Chuck Carlton

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OMAHA, Neb. – The team that had specialized in the against-all-odds comeback throughout the NCAA tournament had to watch someone else celebrate an improbable victory.

For Texas, the 7-6, 11-inning loss to LSU in Game 1 of the College World Series championship could not have stung much more.

LSU's Mikie Mahtook, who had struck out three times previously and battled cramping, singled in D.J. LeMahieu during the 11th inning to give LSU a 7-6 lead. Closer Matty Ott sat Texas down in order in the bottom of the 11th, with two strikeouts.

The final out began an emotional release for the LSU players and for their purple-and-gold wearing fans, which constituted a large portion of the 23,019 watching at Rosenblatt Stadium.

"Man, I don't want this moment to go away," LeMahieu said after the Tigers improved to 55-16.

Texas (49-15-1) can't forget it soon enough.

"It had to happen sometime," said Texas designated hitter Russell Moldenhauer, who delivered two of the Longhorns' five solo homers. "We can't have all the glorious game-ending victories. We got to throw that aside and ... come back with the same feeling we had at the beginning of the game."

The Longhorns had been 39-0 this season holding the lead going into the ninth inning.

Now they will have to bounce back for today's Game 2, trying to prolong their season. Coach Augie Garrido plans to start freshman Taylor Jungmann, who failed to throw a strike in a six-pitch relief stint Monday.

The winner of Game 1 has gone on to claim the College World Series four of six times since the move to a best-of-3 format.

"We've played with the spirit of a champion for a long time now and we don't have to give that up now that we lost a most difficult game," said Garrido, doing his Zen-like best to look ahead.

Texas was one out away from an improbable win, after out-slugging one of the most powerful teams in college baseball.

Thanks to the long ball, the Longhorns had taken a 6-4 lead.

And it seemed like Moldenhauer would emerge as the unlikely hero. Garrido had moved Moldenhauer to the cleanup hitter for the CWS, even though the junior came to Omaha batting .234 without a single home run after dislocating his knee cap late last season.

He wasn't the only improbable home run hitter early in the game.

Travis Tucker connected for the first of three solo home runs in the fourth inning. In 186 career games representing 704 previous at-bats, Tucker had just four home runs for Texas.

But for once, Texas couldn't hold the two-run lead in the ninth.

LeMahieu doubled off Texas reliever Brandon Workman, scoring Derek Helenihi and Leon Landry with two out to tie the score. Workman was the third of three Texas pitchers in the inning, following Austin Wood and Jungmann.

"We played that card, and it didn't work," Garrido said of the pitching changes. "In hindsight, if you could take the cards back, we might do that."

A look at the hitting transformation by Texas junior Russell Moldenhauer in the College World Series: