OMAHA — Alex White kept LSU’s potent offense mostly under wraps for seven-plus innings and Kyle Seager, Seth Williams and Ryan Graepel had three hits apiece to lead North Carolina to an 8-4 victory over the Tigers in the College World Series on Sunday night.
White (11-3) gave up home runs to Michael Hollander and Matt Clark leading off the first and second innings, then allowed only two singles the rest of the way.
The Tar Heels (52-12), the national runners-up the past two years, advanced to a Tuesday night game against upstart Fresno State. The Tigers (48-18-1), beaten for only the second time in 27 games since April 22, will play Rice in a Bracket 2 elimination game Tuesday.
There was nothing fancy about North Carolina’s performance. All but two of its 17 hits were singles. The Tar Heels scored in a variety of ways — a wild pitch, a walk, a groundout and a sacrifice fly.
The Tigers, who hit a season-high seven home runs in their super regional-clinching 21-7 rout of Cal-Irvine last week, have homered in 11 straight games.
Fresno State 17, Rice 5
: Danny Muno, Alan Ahmady and Jordan Ribera launched three-run homers and Fresno State’s amazing postseason run continued with a stunning victory.
The Bulldogs (43-29), the first No. 4 regional seed to make it to Omaha, broke the game open with a seven-run fourth inning.
Rice starter Ryan Berry (8-5) struggled in the Owls’ CWS opener for the second straight year, lasting just 3 1/3 innings. And the six Rice pitchers who followed him didn’t fare much better.
