2009 College World Series Championship Series: Game 3

LSU & Texas battle in deciding game of the 2009 CWS

After two weeks of thrilling action in Omaha, we are now down to the final game of the season. Texas’ Taylor Jungmann was dominant in Tuesday’s must-win game against LSU, pitching a complete game and striking out nine Tiger batters en route to a 5-1 victory. Jungmann waited out an hour and a half rain delay before the game began, which may have been a blessing as the rain washed away some seriously stifling humidity.

This isn’t the first time Jungmann has had to produce in a big spot for the Longhorns. Only a freshman, he was the winning pitcher against TCU in the Horns’ CWS-clinching win a few weeks ago and was solid in two other World Series appearances. However, there is no arguing that this young man pitched beyond his years during this tournament for Texas.

However, all Jungmann did was tie this series up at one game apiece. That means tonight’s game is for all of the marbles and it seems appropriate that it comes down to one night between these two teams. LSU, who was ranked #1 by most of the national services, and Texas, the tournament’s #1 overall seed, titans in the sport of college baseball who are trying to earn their 6th or 7th national title, respectively. I said at the start of the CWS that it looked like it would be a series of powerhouses and it doesn’t get bigger than these two in the world of College Baseball.

So, who wins tonight’s game? LSU held back sophomore starter Anthony Renaudo (11-3, 2.87 ERA) out of fear that the humidity and rain would affect his performance. While that decision may have negatively affected the outcome of last night’s game, it leaves LSU with a very solid starting pitcher available on an extra day’s rest in the biggest game of the year. Renaudo pitched 6 shutout innings in his last start, a victory over Arkansas which closed the Razorbacks out of the tournament. LSU should get another solid start tonight from one of their aces while Texas has to hope that their #3 starter can get the job done.

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That #3 starter for Texas is sophomore Cole Green, who has pitched the 2nd most innings on the Texas pitching staff. Green is 5-3 with a 3.07 ERA and will be making his 20th start of the season. Green will need to keep the LSU bats quiet for as long as possible. We could be looking at a pitchers’ duel if Green is on tonight.

In the end, the number one rule in baseball is that good pitching beats good hitting. LSU is going to get good pitching tonight from Renaudo, something I’m not 100% sure that Texas can say about Green. Furthermore, Jungmann’s virtuoso performance last night broke a 14 game winning streak for the Tigers, who have only lost back to back games once all season. I don’t expect them to go through the entire season avoiding a 2 game losing streak all but one time only to lose two in a row at the most inopportune point in the year. Furthermore, I expect the Tigers to get some runs early and let Renaudo keep the Longhorns off the base paths. With Renaudo on the mound, I’m going to have to pick the LSU Tigers to win their 6 th National Championship in a close win over the Texas Longhorns.

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By Matt Baxendell
CollegeSports-fans.com Staff Writer

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