A tough debut for UVa

OMAHA, Neb. — Chalk one up for the mentor.

Louisiana State, using a pair of mammoth homers, made a winner of coach Paul Mainieri in his reunion with Virginia coach Brian O’Connor in the opening day at the College World Series.

En route to the 9-5 victory in front of a record-tying crowd of 24,904 at legendary Rosenblatt Stadium, the Tigers pounded a trio of Cavalier pitchers.

“When you play a team like LSU - with that kind of lineup one through nine - if you don’t make the pitches you need to make in the clutch, they are going to burn you,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “Those are the pitches that we have made the last few weeks to get to this point. We didn’t make them tonight and that is to LSU’s credit.”

With the setback, Virginia falls into the loser’s bracket and faces a must-win situation Monday against Cal State Fullerton at 2 p.m. The Cavaliers (48-14-1) had won nine of 10 games heading into the CWS.

LSU (52-16) advances to face SEC rival Arkansas on Monday at 7 p.m. The Razorbacks upset Fullerton, 10-6, in the opening game of the CWS on Saturday.

Virginia certainly had its chances. In fact, the Cavaliers registered 13 hits, including two homers, but left 13 runners left on base.

LSU, using a 14-hit attack, was far more productive in clutch situations.

The biggest hit, one that sealed Virginia’s fate, came off the bat of left fielder Ryan Schimpf in the eighth inning as the Tigers were clinging to a 6-5 lead.

Schimpf’s blast, which drove in three runs, came off reliever Tyler Wilson and landed several rows deep in right field.

LSU, the top-ranked team in the country and the No. 3 national seed, jumped out to an early lead, scoring a lone run in the bottom-half of the first against Virginia starter Danny Hultzen.

Virginia evened the contest in the second on an RBI groundout, but the Cavaliers gave the lead back as the Tigers scored two runs back in their half of the third. In the frame, Hultzen allowed four hits, including a double, and walked two batters.

While LSU left the inning with a 3-1 lead, Hultzen minimized the damage, stranding three runners.

It was the end of the line, however for Hultzen, serving as the rookie’s shortest starting outing of the season. The ACC freshman of the year allowed seven hits, a walk and three earned runs.

“I threw some bad pitches that they took advantage of,“ Hultzen said.

After Hultzen escaped the jam, Virginia answered back again in the fourth inning as Tyler Cannon tripled and scored on a bloop single that dropped in shallow right field. It was in that frame that Virginia chased LSU starter Anthony Ranaudo from the contest after he worked just 3.1 innings.

Virginia added a pair of runs in the top of fifth, including one on a two-out single from Keith Werman, but the Cavaliers stranded two runners.

As was the theme the entire contest, LSU answered again.

This time, however, the Tigers used the first of their homers and took the lead back for good.

With Matt Packer in for the Cavaliers and two runners on, LSU first baseman Sean Ochinko ripped a fastball over the wall in left field.

Virginia cut into the deficit in the seventh with a solo homer from Franco Valdes. Unfortunately for UVa, the blast came moments after first baseman John Hicks was caught trying to steal second.