By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big 12 Sports.com Correspondent
OMAHA, Neb. - You can't win a percentage of a championship. Trophies don't come in half-sizes.
Texas will remember its 33rd College World Series trip as the Two-Thirds Title.
LSU, which closed the season winning 15 of its last 16 games, won the 2009 national championship with an 11-4 victory over Texas Wednesday night. The Tigers won the best-of-three series by winning the first and third games. LSU's sixth national championship equals Texas' total.
The Longhorns (50-16-1) might have won the school's seventh title if their vaunted pitching staff could have closed the deal against the Tigers. But LSU was at its most dangerous when its innings were on life support.
In its three games against Texas, the Tigers (56-17) scored 13 of their first 16 runs with two outs. Texas was close but it wasn't a closer. Too often UT completed two-thirds in an inning when it needed the full measure.
"LSU has a great will and spirit about them," Texas coach Augie Garrido said. "Two-out rallies become revealing about a team and it's almost mandatory to be a winner. When they get to crunch time they put the bat on the ball and separated strikes from balls."
In Game Three, seven of LSU's 11 runs came with two outs. That sort of clutch scoring kept the pressure on Texas. Three of the runs in a tipping-point five-run sixth inning came with two outs and that fateful frame snuffed the Longhorns' momentum.
Jared Mitchell, whose three-run homer with two outs opened the scoring in the first inning, started the sixth with a walk. He scored on Mikie Mahtook's double to right center; Mahtook scored on sacrifice fly, the first out of the sixth.
"We were a little flat through the middle innings, we weren't having good at bats," said Mitchell, a first-round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox. "I told myself I needed to find a way to spark this team, get a run in somewhere."
Trailing 6-4, the Longhorns were still in business. But with two outs and a runner at second, UT couldn't get off the field. A walk and two hit batters forced in one run and cleanup hitter Sean Ochinko singled to left to drive in two more.
"That's what we've preached all year, getting clutch hits, coming through when it's important," said Mitchell, who was a wide receiver on LSU's 2007 national championship team. "Converting third downs wins championships in football, getting two-out hits wins championships in baseball."
After trailing 4-0, Texas had battled back to tie the game at 4-4. Kevin Keyes' two-run homer to left-center had deadlocked the game in the bottom of the fifth. A five-run deficit with 12 outs remaining was too much for even The Kings Of Drama.
"We were really excited, we thought we were gonna keep on going," Texas senior second baseman Travis Tucker said, as L-S-U chants came filtering into the interview room from a hallway under Rosenblatt Stadium. "Their answering right back was devastating. They shifted the momentum back to their side."
Texas starter Cole Green retired the first two hitters but then DH Blake Dean reached first when Green's pitch hit him on his back foot. Ochinko followed with a single through the shortstop hole off the glove of a diving Brandon Loy.
Mitchell, who was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player, curled a three-run homer just inside the right-field foul pole. Mitchell had been moved up in the lineup from the sixth to the fifth spot.
The Tigers took a 4-0 lead on Ryan Schimpf's two-out, run-scoring single in the top of the second. That frame followed the Texas half of the first that saw the Longhorns load the bases with two outs before Keyes struck out swinging. The Longhorns had seven runners left on base in the first three innings.
LSU's two-out heroics in Game One and Game Three ended UT's amazing postseason run. The 25-inning marathon, the eight-run rally capped by a grand slam, the walk-off walk and the walk-off home runs will be a part of Longhorns' lore.
"It's been an amazing run," senior Preston Clark said. "Every guy has pulled for each other. It's the best team I've ever been a part of. (LSU) punched us in the mouth, we punched back and they punched even harder."
While football championships end with Gatorade baths and college basketball champions climb ladders to cut down the nets, college baseball champions celebrate with a dog pile. When UT's Connor Rowe struck out to end the game, the Tigers piled up just in front of the pitcher's mound.
Lined up along the dugout railing, the Longhorns could only watch the celebration and wonder about what might have been with a few more outs.
"I don't think we lost this tournament, LSU won it," Garrido said. "They did all the things a team needs to do. It's a well-deserved championship for LSU. They are the best team we've played - by far.
"I have respect for what they've accomplished and for what we've accomplished. I think there's room for both. There's a difference between losing a game and being a loser. We lost the game but our players are big-time winners."
Extra bases
* Three Texas players were selected to the 2009 Men's College World Series All-Tournament Team: catcher Cameron Rupp, designated hitter Russell Moldenhauer and pitcher Taylor Jungmann. LSU had four players named: second baseman D.J. LeMahieu, outfielders Jared Mitchell and Ryan Schimpf and pitcher Anthony Renaudo.
* LSU won 26 of its last 29 games last season and finished 56-17 in 2009. Since April 22, 2008, the Tigers are 82-20.
* LSU had 12 hits, two walks, three batters hit by pitch and another runner reach on an error. That added up to too many runners for the Longhorns to manage.
How they scored
LSU 1st: With two outs, Blake Dean was hit by a pitch that bounced off his back foot. Sean Ochinko followed with a single to left that bounced off the glove of a diving Brandon Loy. On a 2-2 pitch, Jared Mitchell homered to right, just inside the foul pole. LSU 3, Texas 0.
LSU 2nd: Micah Gibbs led off with a single and advanced to second on a ground out. With two outs, D.J. LeMahieu reached on an infield single. Ryan Schimpf followed with a single to center to score Gibbs. LSU 4, Texas 0.
Texas 3rd: Travis Tucker led off with a double into the left-field corner and Brandon Belt walked. With one out, the Longhorns pulled off a double steal. Tucker scored on Cameron Rupp's grounder to short. Following walks to Kevin Keyes and Connor Rowe, Preston Clark walked with the bases loaded to score Belt. LSU 4, Texas 2.
Texas 5th: Cameron Rupp singled to center with two strikes. On the next pitch, Kevin Keyes lined a home run over the 375-foot mark in left center. LSU 4, Texas 4.
LSU 6th: Jared Mitchell led off with a walk, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on Mikie Mahtook's double to right center. Micah Gibbs sacrificed Mahtook to third and reached on a throwing error by Texas pitcher Austin Dicharry. Mahtook scored on Derek Helenihi's sacrifice fly to left. Austin Nola grounded out with Gibbs moving to second. D.J. LeMahieu walked on four pitches. Ryan Schimpf was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Blake Dean was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Sean Ochinko singled to left to score two runs. LSU 9, Texas 4.
LSU 8th: Austin Nola doubled just inside first. D.J. LeMahieu reached when he lined a single off pitcher Austin Wood's knee; Nola advanced to third. Nola scored on Ryan Schimpf's sacrifice fly to center. LSU 10, Texas 4.
LSU 9th: Sean Ochinko led off with a home run down the left field, his fourth hit of the game. LSU 11, Texas 4.