June 19, 2009

Game 11 Recap

College World Series Schedule and Game Stories

College World Series Capsules

College World Series - Game 11 Notes

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder
 

The start of the game was delayed by two hours and 30 minutes because of inclement weather.

Arkansas tied a College World Series record by using eight pitchers. North Carolina also used eight against Rice on June 5, 2007.

The teams combined to use 13 pitchers, which matched the total set by Nebraska (7) and Clemson (6) on June 14, 2002.

The Tigers stretched their win streak to 13. LSU has not lost since a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Vanderbilt on May 21 in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.

LSU reaches the CWS finals for the first time since 2000, when the Tigers won their fifth title. LSU has never lost a CWS championship game.

The Tigers lead the nation with 54 wins.

LSU is 25-0 when scoring 10 or more runs.

The Tigers have won four of five this season against the Razorbacks. Arkansas won the opener of the SEC series in Fayetteville in early May before LSU won the next two. The Tigers defeated Arkansas twice in Omaha.

LSU is hitting .368 and averaging 10.7 runs in three CWS games. The Tigers are batting .351 and are averaging nine runs in eight NCAA Tournament contests.

The Razorbacks tied for third in the CWS, the third time Arkansas finished third or better. The Razorbacks were second in 1979 and third in 1985.

Brett Eibner (left) had a two-run homer in the seventh for Arkansas, his second in the CWS.

Senior Chase Leavitt smacked a three-run homer in the ninth, his first RBI in nine NCAA Tournament games. It was his first dinger since April 15.

“It was fun to see us hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We’ve been doing that all year. It didn’t mean anything, but it did something to us. That was perfect.”

Van Horn was asked if he thought LSU would win it all.

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Van Horn said. “They’ve got some really good baseball players, a couple really good football players, they might even have a basketball player over there. They’re very, very good.”

(photo courtesy of Arkansas Media Relations Office)