OMAHA, Neb. — No team came into the NCAA baseball tournament struggling any more than Arkansas.

Right now, no team seems better.

With Andy Wilkins homering and driving in five runs, Arkansas started off the College World Series with a 10-6 victory over Cal State Fullerton yesterday.

The Razorbacks reached a double-digit run total for the fourth time in six games. Nine of their runs scored with two outs.

No doubt, coach Dave Van Horn likes the way his team has responded to his challenge after the Hogs lost 10 of 13 games heading into the national tournament.

"The No. 1 goal was to win the national championship, and the only way to do that was to play in Omaha. That's all they had left," Van Horn said. "I asked them what people are going to remember this team by — the one that started great and faded or the one that finished strong?

"They took it to heart and have been lights out."

No one has been better than Wilkins. The sophomore first baseman is batting .593 (16 for 27) with four homers, five other extra-base hits, and 17 RBIs in six NCAA tournament games.

"I'm trying to keep it going," he said. "I got hot in the Norman Regional and tried to keep it going in the super regionals, and now we're here. I'm doing what I can to help the ballclub."

The Hogs (40-22) play tomorrow night against LSU (52-16). Fullerton (47-15) meets Virginia (48-14-1) in a Bracket 1 elimination game.

The Razorbacks ripped freshman pitcher Noe Ramirez while stunning the No. 2 seeded Titans and giving Van Horn his first victory in seven CWS games. Van Horn is in the CWS for the fourth time. He went 0-4 with Nebraska in 2001 and '02, and 0-2 with Arkansas in 2004.

Arkansas manufactured two runs in the first inning, scored two more in the third on Zack Cox's homer, and then broke open the game with a five-run fourth.

"It was big for us to go out and show that we were going to be in the game, that we had a pretty good club and we could swing it," Van Horn said. "Scoring early was huge for us and put pressure on them."

Wilkins highlighted the fourth inning with a three-run homer off freshman Tyler Pill, who was making his first relief appearance.

LSU 9, VIRGINIA 5

LSU found another unlikely hero at the College World Series.

No, Sean Ochinko's go-ahead three-run homer in the Tigers' victory over Virginia last night didn't have the dramatic flair of Warren Morris' improbable winner in the 1996 championship game against Miami.

But it sure was big for a guy who hadn't gone deep in 32 games and had already struck out twice when he came to bat in the fifth inning.

"It was good to be able to help the team and drive in some runs, even though I struck out three times, too," Ochinko said. "I'm not going to lie to you guys, that was the most important baseball moment of my life."

Ryan Schimpf's two-run blast in the eighth broke open the game for the Tigers, who extended their season-high winning streak to 11 games.

The Tigers (52-16), ranked No. 1 in the major polls and the No. 3 national seed, play Southeastern Conference rival Arkansas tomorrow night. Virginia (48-14-1) meets Cal State Fullerton in an elimination game the same day.

"The bats came to life," LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. "Ochinko's home run turned the tide, and Schimpf came through and we were able to separate ourselves a little bit. It's nice to win the first game of the College World Series. I don't know how many years it's been since LSU has done that."

LSU banged out 14 hits against a Virginia pitching staff that had given up a total of 10 runs over its last six games.

"That was the most offensive game I've ever coached in the College World Series in my three trips here," Mainieri said. "Virginia has outstanding pitching. We took the best batting practice of the season yesterday, and then our hitters went out and really battled."