College world series roundup \ Friday’s game

LSU 14, Arkansas 5

OMAHA, Neb. — Paul Mainieri can’t think of a thing he would change about the way his LSU Tigers are playing at the College World Series. That’s surely a scary thought for whoever the Tigers end up playing in next week’s best-of-three finals. LSU used an impressive show of power and pitching to win Bracket 1. The Tigers hit four home runs, raising their CWS total to nine in three games, and Anthony Ranaudo bounced back from a subpar outing to throw six shutout innings. “It’s a dream come true that we got to this point,” said Mainieri, the Tigers’ third-year coach. “When I say a dream, it’s not that I didn’t think we couldn’t. We thought we could when we started the year. Now there’s an opportunity for us, and now we’ll see if we can seize it.” The Tigers, playing for their sixth national title and first since 2000, await either Texas or Arizona State in the finals beginning Monday. The Longhorns and Sun Devils played late Friday night. Texas, 2-0 in the CWS, would wrap up its bracket with a victory. If Texas loses, the teams would play a deciding game today. The Tigers (54-16) hadn’t played since Monday’s 9-1 win over Arkansas, and they had to wait even longer because of a thunderstorm that pushed back the start of Friday’s game 2 1/2 hours. “They were chomping at the bit to get back out there on the ballfield,” Mainieri said. Once out there, the Tigers showed no signs of rust against an Arkansas team they dominated all year. Arkansas (41-24) was outscored 23-6 by LSU in two CWS games, and the Razorbacks lost four of five overall against the Tigers this season. LSU scored in six of the nine innings Friday and shut out Arkansas for 14 straight innings over their two meetings in Omaha. The Tigers also beat Virginia 9-5 and have won 13 in a row. “Up to this point, we’ve been rolling pretty well,” said designated hitter Blake Dean, who hit LSU’s first homer in the fifth.

Associated Press