LSU Takes Game One Of CWS Championship Series

• Mikie Mahtook drove-in DJ LeMahieu with two outs and two strikes in the top of the 11th inning to give LSU the win.  Mahtook started the game 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a 4-6-3 doubleplay.

• Texas hit five solo home runs in the game, all of them came off LSU starter Louis Coleman.

• The Longhorns have scored ten runs in their last two games (LSU & ASU), and eight of the runs have scored via solo homers.

• Russell Moldenhauer has three home runs this season, and all of them have come in the Longhorn’s four CWS games.  He hit just one home run last year after belting six as a freshman.

• Three of the Texas home runs came in the 4th inning.  It’s the first 3-homer inning at the CWS since LSU did it vs. Mississippi State on June 1, 1998.

• Texas hit 39 home runs with 96 sacrifice bunts in 61 games coming into the CWS, but the Longhorns now have ten home runs in their four games in Omaha.

• Coming into the CWS Texas scored roughly 18% of its runs due to home runs, but they’ve scored about 48% of their runs in Omaha courtesy of the long ball.

• Texas starter Chance Ruffin had 10 strikeouts tonight, and he’s rung-up 114 this season. He writes a “K” for each one on the bottom of the bill of his cap.

• Since the College World Series switched to a best 2 of 3 format for the National Championship the game one winner has won four of six titles. Georgia won game one last year, but Fresno State went on to win the last two games to claim the crown.

• How did Mike Patrick, Orel Hersheiser and Robin Ventura all end-up wearing some form of purple during tonight’s telecast?  Will the ESPN crew all wear orange tomorrow night?

• Mainieri’s dad, Demi “Doc” Mainieri was in the press box tonight. He’s a juco baseball Hall of Fame coach who won a national championship in 1964.

• It was Africa hot in Omaha tonight.  It was sunny and 94 degrees at game time with a heat index of 107.  Fans exiting the stadium after the game looked like they had either just stepped out of a sauna or just finished swimming in the Missouri River.  It’s supposed to be hotter Tuesday.

• My drive to Omaha from Indiana today took a bit over eight hours. When I called home after my arrival my daughter didn’t even realize I was gone.

• Speaking of my trip across Illinois and Iowa…the Bob Feller Museum is in Van Meter Iowa (exit 113 on I-80).

• “Radar’s home town rocks! Ottumwa, IA, the home of the ficticious “MASH” character has a booming classic rock station, 101.5 FM, that booms up to Des Moines.

• For the most part, Iowa drivers get out of the left hand lane to let you pass them on the interstate (unlike most drivers in Indiana and Illinois).

• The John Wayne birthplace and the covered bridges of Madison County are at exit 110 on I-80.

• Ever feel like you could be about to jump into a Bruce Willis explosion scene when you pull into a gas station behind a guy who’s hanging a cigarette out the window?

More from Omaha coming-up tomorrow!