Barrett's Barleycorn just had to order a lot more beer. LSU baseball fans are staying awhile, with reinforcements on the way.

Their Tigers defeated Arkansas 9-1 in an important winners-bracket game Monday night, ensuring three days off from College World Series play before a Friday game that could put LSU into the best-of-three championship series.

Mikie Mahtook hit a three-run homer. Blake Dean hit a two-run homer. Austin Nola hit a solo homer. Louis Coleman kept Arkansas in check, and LSU's pitching staff will have plenty of rest -- and plenty of rested arms -- for the program's biggest game in nine years.

LSU (53-16) is three wins away from its sixth national championship, its first since 2000, and all seems right with the world for the purple and gold party in Omaha that continues to postpone last call.

Whether or not it's marked by something resembling the swagger of the '90s, the Tigers are playing with a self-assuredness that looks like a championship team hitting its stride.

"I thought it was a really outstanding effort in a lot of ways," LSU coach Paul Mainieri said after his team banged out 13 hits off four Arkansas pitchers.

Mainieri said he had a feeling the Tigers would play well against the Razorbacks (40-23).

"These kids are focused," he said. "They’re balancing focus and energy. It’s a coach's dream right now the way these guys are conducting themselves. They’re a very confident group right now."

Now LSU waits. Arkansas will play Virginia, a 9-5 loser to the Tigers in the first round, in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The winner will have to beat LSU twice to advance to the championship series. The Tigers have only to win one more game to get there.

Their performance Monday night against SEC West rival Arkansas had all the ingredients of a team poised to make it happen.

"Our pitching has been pretty consistent all year, as well as our defense," Mainieri said. "Our hitting at times has been awesome and at times not so good. Tonight, you saw what we’re capable of.

"It seemed like just about everybody was throwing up some good at-bats tonight. When we’re clicking, we’re a good offensive team one through nine."

LSU scored eight of nine runs with two outs. Coleman (14-2) gave up a first-inning run, then closed the door for eight of the 11 runners Arkansas left stranded.

The Razorbacks didn't get a two-out hit with a runner on base.

"You just have to give credit to Coleman," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "He was outstanding."

After giving up a leadoff double to Ben Tschepikow in the third inning, Coleman struck out every other batter in the inning, surviving two walks that loaded the bases.

He struck out Andrew Darr on three pitches to end the inning.

"We were down 4-1 with the bases loaded, and we didn’t get the hit," Van Horn said. "We didn’t even hit the ball hard. If we get the hit, we’re right in there. We have been getting that hit. You just have to give credit to Coleman."

The players in purple jerseys made the Arkansas pitching staff work harder. Starter Brett Eibner (5-5) left with two outs in the second inning after giving up four runs on five hits and two walks.

He threw 59 pitches, 39 in the first inning. Ryan Schimpf, LSU's second batter, was responsible for 13 of those in the game's second at-bat.

Schimpf walked and later scored on Mahtook's three-run homer.

"I think Ryan Schimpf’s at-bat was one of the better ones of the year," Mainieri said. "I think that really set the tone for the game. Schimpf’s at-bat where he battled really set the tone and said that we weren’t going to back down from this team."

Mahtook's home run -- and explosive release of energy as he reached home plate to celebrate with his teammates -- was another such indication.

"Mahtook and the rest of the young guys bring the fire, while the veterans tend to go with the flow," said Dean, whose walk-out song at home games for much of his LSU career has been "Fireman" by Lil Wayne. "When (Mahtook) hits a home run, he almost takes your arm off. As veterans, we try to calm them down while the young guys bring the fire."

By the time he told reporters about the pitch he hit, Mahtook was more sedate.

"He tried to sneak a fastball by me and I fouled it off, then I was looking for the slider because he’d thrown it in a couple of times in the at-bat," Mahtook said. "He threw the slider and left it up a little bit. I put a good swing on it and got enough of it."

It was the first in a series of quality two-out at-bats. The only run LSU scored on something other than a two-out at-bat was on Nola's home run with one out in the five-run sixth inning.

"Two-out hits is how you win ballgames," Dean said.

It doesn't hurt to have Coleman on the mound.

"When you get him nine runs," Dean said, "it’s going to be hard to lose the ballgame."

Tschepikow had two doubles but acknowledged the difficulties in batting against Coleman.

"His arm delivery is tricky," Tschepikow said. "It’s a little deceptive. He comes at you and makes you beat him. It’s tough."

Arkansas first baseman Andy Wilkins agreed.

"He was locating well," Wilkins said. "He threw on both sides, and it caused us problems up and down (the lineup)."

Coleman scattered six hits, walked three and struck out seven. Daniel Bradshaw gave up two hits in two shutout innings, and Nolan Cain gave up one hit in his scoreless inning.

Cain struck out two of the four batters he faced.

The Razorbacks said Arkansas will bounce back. Tschepikow said the team has character and is still capable of winning.

"This is just a speed bump," Wilkins said. "We’re going to look at Virginia now and hopefully move on to play LSU again."

By then it would be Friday afternoon, for all practical purposes the weekend, when more LSU fans are expected to arrive at Rosenblatt Stadium. Their Tigers are proving to be quite the economic stimulus for the usual LSU haunts in Omaha, and with a baseball team 2-0 at the CWS for the first time since 2000, there is a cha-ching thing happening where purple meets sunflower gold.

And a championship within reach.

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Carl Dubois has covered LSU sports on a regular basis since 1999. He is not in Omaha, so he wrote this recap about the game after watching on ESPN2 and getting coach and player comments through the NCAA's Web site. He is still waiting for evidence the ESPN crew knows that Arkansas pitcher T.J. Forrest, who had three outstanding innings and one bad one, played for LSU as a freshman. You can contact Carl by writing carl1061 'at' gmail.com.