OMAHA, Neb. — Those surprising Fresno State Bulldogs don't know when or where their postseason run will end, but they sure are enjoying the ride.

By knocking off No. 2 national seed North Carolina, 5-3, at the College World Series last night, the Bulldogs assured themselves of playing at least until the weekend. And if they win again Friday against Carolina or LSU, they'll be playing for the national championship next week.

Upsets of Rice and now the Tar Heels have put the Bulldogs (44-29) in control of Bracket 2.

"You kind of don't have any expectations going into something like this. None of us have ever been here before," closer Brandon Burke said. "We're kind of taking it from pitch to pitch and game to game and see where we go from there."

North Carolina (52-13), the national runner-up the past two years, will meet LSU (49-18-1) in an elimination game tomorrow, with the winner facing Fresno State Friday. If the Bulldogs lose, they'll play the same opponent Saturday in an elimination game.

It's almost overwhelming for a Fresno club that started the NCAA tournament as a No. 4 regional seed. Before this year, no one seeded so low had made it to the CWS.

"A lot of these teams — Rice, obviously, North Carolina — they've been here the last few years and they kind of know what to expect," Burke said. "And they may take us a little lightly."

Fresno State has shown no fear against two of the decade's most successful teams in college baseball. The Bulldogs put a 17-5 beating on Rice in their opener, and they could have scored more yesterday if they hadn't left 12 runners on base.

Alan Ahmady hit the go-ahead single in the fifth inning and five Fresno State pitchers combined to hold Carolina scoreless for all but one inning.

"These guys decided long ago that they're not going to play who's in the other dugout or what name is across their uniform," Fresno coach Mike Batesole said. "They've just been playing baseball."

The Bulldogs 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.

LSU 6, RICE 5

Blake Dean hit a three-run double off the left-field wall in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Tigers (49-18-1) rallied from a 5-0 deficit to stay in contention while eliminating the Owls (47-15).

LSU had scored a run in the seventh and eighth innings to pull to 5-2 against Cole St. Clair. In the ninth, Michael Hollander hit an RBI single before Jared Mitchell reached on an error to load the bases.

Dean then delivered the big hit.

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

Hawai'i times

At Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, Neb.

Double Elimination

Saturday, June 14

Bracket 1

Stanford 16, Florida State 5

Georgia 7, Miami 4

Sunday, June 15

Bracket 2

Fresno State 17, Rice 5

North Carolina 8, LSU 4

Monday's results

Miami 7, Florida State 5, Florida State eliminated

Georgia 4, Stanford 3

Yesterday's results

LSU 6, Rice 5, Rice eliminated

Fresno State 5, North Carolina 3

Today's game

G9 — Stanford (40-23-2) vs. Miami (53-10), 1 p.m.

Tomorrow's game

Game 10 — LSU (49-18-1) vs. North Carolina (52-13), 7 p.m.

Friday's games

Game 11 — Georgia (43-23-1) vs. Winner Game 9, 8 a.m.

Game 12 — Fresno State (44-29) vs. Winner Game 10, 1 p.m.

Saturday's games

Game 13 — if necessary, 8 a.m.

Game 14 — if necessary, 1 p.m.

Note: If there is only one game, it will be played at 1 p.m.

Championship Series

(Best-of-3)

Monday, June 23: Bracket One winner vs. Bracket Two winner, 1 p.m.

Tuesday, June 24: Bracket One winner vs. Bracket Two winner, 1 p.m.

Wednesday, June 25: Bracket One winner vs. Bracket Two winner, if necessary, 1 p.m.