COLLEGE BASEBALL

• Fresno State, LSU rally to win at CWS

  
  

  Omaha, NE (Sports Network) - Alan Ahmady went 2-for-5 and drove in a pair of runs as Fresno State sent North Carolina to the brink of elimination, while Blake Dean's bases-clearing double allowed LSU to finish off Rice in Tuesday's College World Series action from Rosenblatt Stadium.

  The Bulldogs topped the second-seeded Tar Heels, 5-3, while LSU rallied for four runs in the ninth to edge the Owls, 6-5.

  Steve Susdorf and Ryan Overland each homered for the Bulldogs, who are now one win away from playing for the National Championship. Danny Muno and Erik Wetzel added three hits apiece, while Jason Breckley only needed to record one out in relief to earn the win.

  Tim Fedroff and Chad Flack each had two hits and drove in a run for the Tar Heels, who will play LSU in an elimination game on Thursday. Seth Williams and Kyle Shelton added two hits apiece, but Adam Warren took the loss after allowing four runs on nine hits in four-plus innings.

  Trailing 3-2, the Bulldogs rallied against Warren in the bottom of the fifth. Singles by Muno, Hedstrom and Wetzel loaded the bases with nobody out and chased Warren for Brian Moran.

  Muno was forced out at home on Susdorf's grounder, but Ahmady followed with a single to center that plated two runs and gave Fresno State the lead.

  The Fresno State bullpen kept the Tar Heels in check until the eighth, when Flack singled to right off Holden Sprague with one out. After a Mark Fleury popup, Williams singled to center, but Brandon Burke came on in relief of Sprauge to retire Ryan Graepel on a high chopper to third.

  Wetzel's RBI single gave the Bulldogs an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, and Burke worked around a two-out single by Fedroff in the ninth to lock up the win.

  Down 1-0, The Tar Heels pulled ahead in the fourth on RBI hits by Fedroff, Kyle Seager and Flack, but Susdorf pulled a run back with a homer in the bottom of the frame.

  In the early game, the Tigers trailed 5-2 entering the ninth inning before exploding to take the lead.

  Facing Cole St. Clair, Derek Helenihi singled with one out, then Sean Ochinko was hit by a pitch. Michael Hollander's single made it 5-3, and Jared Mitchell reached on an error to load the bases setting the stage for Dean's double.

  Helenihi had three hits, while Jared Gayhart and Micah Gibbs drove in the other runs for the Tigers, who erased a 5-0 deficit to record the win. Louis Coleman hurled a scoreless eighth and ninth to notch the win.

  Rick Hague went 2-for-3 with two RBI for Rice, which is eliminated from the tournament. Aaron Luna added two hits and a run driven in, while Jared Gayhart and Diego Seastrunk knocked in one each. St. Clair took the loss, charged with seven hits and six runs -- four earned -- in 2 2/3 innings.

  Rice was in control throughout, running up a comfortable lead on Hague's second-inning two-run single, Gayhart's RBI triple in the fifth, Aaron Luna's solo shot in the sixth and Seastrunk's RBI single in the following at-bat.

  However, the Tigers came back with single runs each in the seventh and eighth. St.

  Clair balked home Nicholas Pontiff for a 5-1 game then a Gibbs run- scoring double reduced the gap to three.

  Gibbs then attempted to score on a base hit by D.J. LeMahieu, but was tagged out at the plate by Rice catcher Adam Zornes.

  06/17 22:44:40 ET