OMAHA, Neb. — LSU coach Paul Mainieri referred to sophomore right-hander Anthony Ranaudo as a “caged lion” waiting to get his start in a chance to redeem his subpar outing in the Tigers’ first game of the College World Series.That lion was let loose on the Razorbacks, and he did some serious damage, throwing six innings, giving up no runs on four hits while striking out five and walking none en route to a 14-5 LSU victory to send the Tigers to the championship series next week.The Jackson, N.J., native allowed only one runner past second base in the game while recording three three up, three down innings after a two and a half hour rain delay before the game began.The only reasons Mainieri ended up pulling Ranaudo was a combination of the long offensive top half of the seventh inning for LSU and to save his arm after throwing only 77 pitches for the championship series that begins Monday against Texas.Mainieri said Ranaudo threw as well as he has all season.”I think you saw the real Ranaudo out there today,” Mainieri said. “He was dominant … He set the tone for the game.”Said Ranaudo: “I flushed the last start. Today, I tried to pound the zone early in the count.”Mainieri wasn’t the only one with kind words about the sophomore right-hander, as Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn lauded Ranaudo’s performance.”Ranaudo was just too good out there,” Van Horn said.The offense also continued its assault on Rosenblatt Stadium with four home runs, all coming on one out, including three in three straight innings from the fifth through the seventh and another in the ninth backed by the support of the Tiger faithful who waited out the rain.LSU’s 31 runs through the first three games in this CWS is the most since 1991, when LSU amassed 42. The Tigers also have nine home runs through the three games, which is second most in school history through three games behind 18 in 1998.The original trio of home runs came from three juniors who were recently drafted — designated hitter Blake Dean and left fielder Ryan Schimpf each hit their second home runs of the CWS in the fifth and seventh innings, respectviely, while right fielder Jared Mitchell hit his first of the tournament, second of the postseason and 10th of the season, in the sixth.The fourth blast came from freshman Tyler Hanover in the ninth.Schimpf, who went 3-for-5 in the game, hit a home run that started off a five run seventh inning for the Tigers”All around our team is doing a great job of hitting the ball,” Schimpf said.Dean added that it becomes tough for any team to beat the Tigers when their offense is hitting as well as it did against Arkansas.”Any time the ball leaves the park with Ranaudo pitching it makes everything much easier for us as a team,” Dean said.Arkansas felt the absence of normal starting shortstop Ben Tschepikow early in the game.The usual three hole hitter for the Razorbacks was out with an injured throwing hand from being hit by a pitch in Wednesday’s victory against Virginia. He injury forced a shift in both the lineup and infield, including moving normal designated hitter Jacob House to first base while shifting around normal first baseman Andy Wilkins to third and Zack Cox to shortstop.In the third inning, the Tigers had the bases loaded and chased Arkansas starter Stephen Richards after two plus innings.Mike Bolsinger, the Arkansas reliever, induced a routine ground ball to House, but he mishandled it, allowing LSU shortstop Austin Nola to score from third.The Tigers ended up getting two more runs in the inning, one on a sacrifice fly by freshman center fielder Mikie Mahtook and another on a wild pitch on a walk.Two of the three runs in the inning were unearned.”House’s error was a tough play because it caught him in between hops,” Van Horn said. “We were playing guys out of position, but that is not why we lost the game.”Arkansas’ five runs came on two home runs. The first was a two-run home run by center fielder Brett Eibner off sophomore Austin Ross, who replaced Ranaudo to start the seventh. The home run was Eibner’s 12th this season.The second came off Matty Ott in the bottom of the ninth, a three-run shot by Chase Leavitt, his second of the season.In total, Arkansas used eight pitchers, which tied the College World Series record for pitches in a game by a single team and the teams combined to use 13 pitchers, which tied a CWS record for most pitchers total in a game.To read a live blog of LSU’s victory against Arkansas, click here.To read baseball beat writer Andy Schwehm’s “Extra Innings” baseball blog from Omaha, Neb., click here.For complete College World Series coverage at lsureveille.com’s College World Series page, click here.Check back later for a full story complete with postgame quotes.—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]