ST. LOUIS – Former University of South Alabama baseball standout David Freese delivered a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 10-9 win over the Texas Rangers in Game 6 of the 2011 Major League Baseball World Series Thursday night at Busch Stadium.

Freese hit a 3-2 pitch off of Texas right-hander Mark Lowe 428 feet over the center field wall to force a seventh and deciding game, which will be held Friday at 7:05 p.m. Central time.

The St. Louis native forced extra innings in Thursday’s win with a two-out, two-run game-tying triple to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning off of Texas closer Neftali Feliz on a 98 mile-per-hour fastball in a 1-2 count.

“It was my first career at-bat against [Neftali] Feliz. I just wanted to stay short and stay through it, and I got a pitch to hit and it fell,” he said of his game-tying triple

Freese finished 2-for-5 with a triple, home run, one run scored and three RBI.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said of the win. “It’s all about playing tomorrow. It wasn’t pretty, but we’re going to be suiting up tomorrow.”

He became just the fifth player in MLB postseason history to hit a walk-off home run in game six or seven of a World Series, joining Joe Carter (1993), Kirby Puckett (1991), Carlton Fisk (1975) and Bill Mazeroski (1966). Freese also became just the third player all-time to hit a walk-off homer with his team trailing in a series 3-2, joining Puckett and Fisk.

Freese entered Thursday’s contest batting .393 with seven doubles, four homers and 16 RBI in 16 postseason games this season.

Freese was a two-year letterwinner at South Alabama (2005-06) where he was a first-team All-American and named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 2006.

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