It’s been nine years since LSU won a title, but that drought ended on Wednesday night when the Tigers crushed Texas 11-4 in the deciding game of the 2009 College World Series.

Tigers’ outfielder Jared Mitchell, who was also selected in the first round of this year’s MLB draft by the White Sox, hit a three-run dinger in the first inning and was named CWS Most Outstanding Player with his .348 batting average, two home runs and seven RBIs.

Mitchell’s blast gave LSU a 4-0 lead, but Texas chipped away and eventually tied the game in the fifth thanks to a Kevin Keyes 2-run homer. But the Tigers added five more runs in the sixth, one in the eighth and one in the ninth to cruise to their sixth CWS title.

LSU has now won the title in each of its six appearances in the CWS championship round.

Taylor Jungmann took it upon himself to ensure that Texas wasn’t going to lose the 2009 College World Series to LSU in two games. Jungmann threw his first complete game of his collegiate career, allowing just one unearned run on five hits to improve to 3-0 in the CWS. He also struck out nine.

Offensively, Russell Moldenhauer led the Longhorns with a third inning solo blast to put Texas up 3-1. He entered the CWS without a dinger, but he’s now tied a record for homers in a single CWS with four.

In 15 CWS appearances, this was the first time LSU has lost in the championship round in school history. Texas became the fourth team to force a deciding game in the seven years of the best-of-three CWS finals, with the last two teams also winning Game 3 (Oregon State in 2006, Fresno State in 2008.)

The deciding game will be tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET.

In what turned out to be the longest game by innings and time in the seven-year history of the College World Series, LSU rallied to beat Texas 7-6 on Monday night in the first game of the CWS.

The Tigers scored two runs on a DJ LeMahieu double in the ninth inning to force extra innings and then Mikie Mahtook singled in the winning run for LSU in the 11th. It was the first game the Longhorns lost in 40 games this season when they led heading into the ninth.

Here are some other fast facts from LSU’s victory over Texas:

• LSU has won nine times this season when it trailed in the seventh inning or later.
• The teams combined for a CWS-record seven solo home runs.
• Texas ace Chance Ruffin tied a season-high with 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, while LSU starter Louis Coleman struggled and gave up five homers in six innings.
• LSU’s last six runs were scored with two outs.
• The Tigers improved to 44-6 when they score first.

Game 2 will be played tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Thanks to Connor Rowe’s game-winning solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Arizona State 4-3 on Friday night, the Texas Longhorns are going to the Finals of the 2009 College World Series to face LSU. The Tigers hammered Arkansas 14-5 to eliminate the Razorbacks and head to the Finals.

The best of three Championship Series between LSU (54-16) and Texas (49-14-1) will start Monday, June 22 at 7:00 p.m. ET. Game 2 will be at 7:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday and Game 3 (if necessary) will be played at 7:00 p.m. ET Wednesday, June 24.

No team has as many CWS wins than Texas, who has 81. LSU is tied for 10th on the all-time wins list with 33. The last time the Long Horns were in the Finals was 2005, when they beat Florida 4-2 and 6-2. The Tigers won the CWS the last time they were in the Finals as well, beating Stanford in 2000.

One player to keep an eye on this series is LSU outfielder Jared Mitchell, who was selected with the 23rd overall pick in the first round of June’s MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox. Mitchell is hitting .400 (4 for 10) so far in this CWS, with two RBI, a run scored and three walks.

Mitchell was highly considered the best college athlete in the MLB draft as he was also a receiver for the LSU football team. He’s a solid hitter who could eventually find his power stroke and he’s got great speed. The downside is that he’s extremely raw, but he’ll be fun to watch next week in the CWS.