The Tar Heels beat Rice twice in two days to win their bracket for the second straight year. They will play defending champion Oregon State in only the second finals rematch in the CWS' 61-year history. Arizona State and Southern California met in 1972 and 1973.

It was a replay of last year's CWS for the Owls.

Rice won its first two games here in 2006, then went home after getting shut out twice by Oregon State. The Owls scored 29 runs in winning their first two games this year, including a 14-4 win over North Carolina, but they managed only five in the two losses to the Tar Heels.

North Carolina (57-14), which has an Atlantic Coast Conference-leading 70 home runs in 71 games, had just one in 13 postseason games before Wednesday's 6-1 win over Rice (56-14).

Dustin Ackley, whose three-run homer broke open Wednesday's game, homered leading off the second against Rice starter Matt Langwell (8-2) on Thursday.

Tim Fedroff's two-run homer, which put the Tar Heels up 3-2 in the third, was his fifth of the season and first since March 28.

Seth Williams homered in the fourth and Josh Horton went deep in the fifth, both off Bobby Bramhall.

Langwell had allowed just two homers in 79 1-3 innings coming into the CWS, but he gave up one to Louisville, two to Rice and the two to North Carolina here. Bramhall, who had given up just two in 60 1-3 innings entering Thursday, surrendered two in a span of five batters.

Warren (12-0), who got the win by pitching 4 1-3 innings of shutout relief against Mississippi State in the CWS opener, allowed three hits and three runs in six-plus innings in his first NCAA tournament start. The sophomore right-hander gave way to Rob Wooten after issuing a walk to start the seventh.

Wooten allowed back-to-back singles and an RBI double to Diego Seastrunk, who went 2-for-5 and drove in three runs after moving from No. 7 to No. 2 in the batting order.