Monday, June 19 Five outs away, Stanford can't seal it
	Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. -- Stanford was just five outs from its third national baseball title. But that was three outs more than they could get in a 6-5 loss to Louisiana State in the College World Series championship game on Saturday. With a 5-2 lead with one out in the eighth inning and one of Stanford's top pitchers still going strong, everything fell apart for the Cardinal. Two home runs in the eighth tied it and LSU slugger Brad Cresse, who struggled all series, hit a game-winning single in the ninth. It was the first time the Cardinal lost in three championship game appearances. "It's tough to end this way, but it doesn't take away from what they've done for me," Stanford coach Mark Marquess said. "I told them they had nothing to be ashamed of and that I was very proud of them. Sometimes you give a game away, but they beat us. They earned it." Stanford (50-16) was outhitting LSU 13-4 before the bottom of the eighth and Justin Wayne had seven strikeouts in three innings of relief. But Blair Barbier started the Tigers' comeback with a solo homer and Jeremy Witten tied it with a two-run shot off Wayne, setting up Cresse's heroics in the ninth. "They capitalized on the mistakes I made late in the game," Wayne said. "It can't happen." Wayne said he felt fine, but Barbier and Witten found a way to hit his pitches just over the left-field fence. "When they go far, it's hard to tell if the pitches were breaking or not," he said. Wayne (15-4) relieved starter Jason Young in the fifth, even though Young was still pitching well. The Cardinal's No. 1 starter had allowed just two runs on four hits, striking out two and walking one. But Marquess thought Wayne and his potent slider could be even more effective against the Tigers, who hit .301 in the series. "We thought Justin's slider was a good matchup for them," Marquess said. "And it was, until the eighth." The Cardinal erased the Tigers' 2-0 lead in the fourth with a four-run inning. Chris O'Riordan and Andy Topham opened the inning with back-to-back singles, then LSU starter Brian Tallet hit Damien Alvarado. Craig Thompson came up with the bases loaded and hit a line drive over the wall in left for Stanford's second grand slam of the series. Stanford added another run in the sixth on John Gall's RBI single off reliever Trey Hodges, but that was all the Cardinal offense. Hodges allowed just one more hit the final four innings and was voted the CWS most outstanding player. The Cardinal nearly let the lead slip away in the bottom of the sixth. Wayne walked Brad Hawpe to open the sixth and then hit Barbier. But Wayne got out of the jam by striking out Wally Pontiff, Cedrick Harris and Witten. Marquess said he opted to not put in closer Jeff Bruksch, who tied the Stanford record with 13 saves this season, because Wayne still looked strong in the ninth. "I thought he still had good stuff," Marquess said. "He had been our main guy all year."		ALSO SEE LSU's late rally gives Tigers CWS crown LSU reliever Hodges named most outstanding player