COLLEGE BASEBALL

• Flack homers to keep UNC alive in CWS; Georgia advances

  
  

  Omaha, NE (Sports Network) - Chad Flack hit a two-run, go-ahead homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, and North Carolina beat Fresno State, 4-3, to force a deciding game between the two schools in the College World Series.

  The Tar Heels were facing elimination for the second night in a row, having won an elimination game over LSU on Friday thanks to Tim Federowicz's grand slam in the top of the ninth inning.

  UNC's victory over the Bulldogs -- who were previously unbeaten in CWS play -- forced the tie-breaker. That game will be played on Sunday at 7 p.m. (et) back at Rosenblatt Stadium, and the winner will go on to face Georgia in the best- of-three College World Series finals. Georgia beat Stanford, 10-8, earlier Saturday, to advance.

  With Fresno State clinging to a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth, Kyle Seager blasted a leadoff double off Justin Miller -- who had entered in the seventh.

  Flack came up and hammered a Miller offering far beyond the left field wall, almost to the scoreboard beyond the stands, to put the Tar Heels in front.

  Miller finished the inning, but was saddled with the loss after Alex White held the Bulldogs scoreless in the ninth to end the game. White picked up the win after throwing 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball in relief of Matt Harvey -- who gave up three runs on five hits in five frames.

  Justin Wilson started for Fresno State, and gave up two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.

  He was also in line for the win after his teammates picked up some early runs.

  In the first inning with runners on first and second, Steve Susdorf pulled a sharp hit down the right field line. Gavin Hedstrom, who was on second, slid around a high throw at home to put Fresno State in front, 1-0.

  In the fourth, Alan Ahmady hit a two-out single and Tommy Mendonca followed with a blast to right field and a 3-0 Bulldogs lead.

  But the Tar Heels got the runs right back in the home half. Flack doubled with one out, went to third on Garrett Gore's single and scored on Seth Williams' base hit. A walk loaded the bases for Ryan Graepel, who hit a sharp grounder to short. Without a play at the plate, Danny Muno went for the out at second as Gore crossed home to bring UNC within 3-2.

  Ahmady finished with a pair of hits for Fresno State, which beat North Carolina in its second tournament game, 5-3. Dustin Ackley had two hits for the Tar Heels, who have reached the finals series of the CWS in each of the past two years, and could reach it again with a win on Sunday.

  The winner of that game will take on Georgia, which slugged its way past Stanford in a game originally scheduled for Friday, but was postponed due to rain.

  The Bulldogs piled on the runs early: a Joey Lewis single in the first, RBI double from Rich Poythress and two-RBI single from Lewis in the second, and two-run single from Poythress in the fourth.

  Ryan Peisel then hit a three-run homer in the fifth to stretch Georgia's lead to 9-3, and the school led 10-4 in the eighth after Poythress' run-scoring double.

  But Josh Fields struggled to close out the game, as he allowed an run- scoring single to Colin Walsh and a three-run homer to Ben Clowe to cut the lead to 10-8. Fields settled down after the home run, though, and got Cord Phelps to fly out to center to end the game.

  Poythress finished with four hits and four RBI for Georgia, while Dean Weaver earned the win after tossing 3 2/3 innings. The right-hander gave up three runs on six hits.

  Phelps finished with a team-high two hits for Stanford, while starter Jeremy Bleichsufferedthe loss aftergiving upsix runs on eight hits over 3 1/3 frames.

  06/22 00:13:55 ET