Fresno State keeps rolling

OMAHA, Neb. – Alan Ahmady hit the go-ahead single in the fifth inning, five Fresno State pitchers combined to hold North Carolina scoreless for all but one inning and the upstart Bulldogs continued to surprise Tuesday night with a 5-3 victory in the College World Series.

The Bulldogs (44-29), the first No. 4 regional seed to reach the CWS, have won two straight to take control of Bracket 2. They need one more win to reach the best-of-3 championship round that starts Monday.

North Carolina (52-13), the No. 2 national seed, will meet LSU in an elimination game Thursday, with the winner facing Fresno on Friday. If the Bulldogs lose, they’ll play the same opponent Saturday in an elimination game.

The Bulldogs, who opened the CWS with a 17-5 win over Rice, knocked out Tar Heels starter Adam Warren (9-2) in the fifth after opening the inning with three straight singles. Brian Moran came on and gave up Ahmady’s two-run single that gave Fresno State a 4-3 lead.

Ryan Overland homered leading off the second inning, marking the first time UNC had trailed in a game since the fifth inning of its regional opener.

The Tar Heels went up 3-1 in the third on three run-scoring hits: a triple by Tim Fedroff, double by Kyle Seager and single by Chad Flack.

Steve Susdorf hit the Bulldogs’ second homer of the game – and sixth of the CWS – to pull Fresno to 3-2 in the fourth. Then, Ahmady delivered his bases-loaded hit against Moran in the fifth.

LSU 6, Rice 5: Blake Dean hit a one-out, three-run double off the left-field wall in the bottom of the ninth inning to keep the Tigers (49-8-1) alive with a loser-out victory over the Owls (47-15).

LSU rallied from a 5-0 deficit and avoided losing a sixth straight game in Omaha since winning the title in 2000.