Merry-go-round returns OSU to finals.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

OMAHA, Neb. - Daniel Turpen went fishing Wednesday morning with a couple of Oregon State teammates.

A few hours later, he helped the Beavers land a big one with a dominant pitching performance that stopped UC Irvine 7-1 at Rosenblatt Stadium and sent the defending national champions into the best-of-three finals that starts Saturday to decide the title of the College World Series.

`He needed to pitch good,' OSU coach Pat Casey said in mock disgust.

Well, maybe not entirely in jest, considering how that extra time in the sun might have sapped Turpen's energy. If it had, Casey had a lecture prepared, and Turpen might have had some regrets.

`I thought about not going because I had to pitch,' Turpen said.

Then again, it's becoming habit for the Beavers to kill some time between breakfast and lunch on the day of a game here with an outing to the concrete pond near their hotel.

`I figured we were 2-0 doing it before the game so I had to do it one more time,' Turpen said.

`We just go out there and throw the hook in the water with whatever we can find on it.'

A 10-pound carp and some smaller bass were pulled in Wednesday, Turpen said, which was more than the Anteaters could get hold of in Turpen's offerings to them. He went eight innings, allowing five hits with five strikeouts before fellow McMinnville native Joe Paterson came on for a 1-2-3 ninth to send UCI home, and continue OSU's bid to be the first repeat champion in 10 years.

North Carolina (56-14) and Rice (56-13) play at 4 p.m. PDT today for the other berth in the title series. The Tar Heels beat the Owls 6-1 on Wednesday to force the elimination game, with each team having one loss in College World Series.

The Beavers are 3-0 at Rosenblatt Stadium. Their bats have come to life. With no game today or Friday, their pitching staff is set up for the weekend.

`They're licking right now,' UCI coach Dave Serrano said. `They get some rest now, they'll have their arms ready and they're going to be tough to beat.'

And, they're looking like the defending national champion.

`We like to call it confidence; a lot of people might call it cockiness,' OSU shortstop Darwin Barney said. `We've got a good swagger going right now.'

Barney had three of OSU's 10 hits, as did Mitch Canham, who collected two of his three RBIs on a third inning home run when OSU scored its first four runs, the only ones that mattered.

That rally began with two outs and Chris Hopkins on second, after being hit by a pitch and advancing on a sacrifice. Mike Lissman then grounded to third baseman Tyler Vaughn for what should have been the final out of the inning, but the throw was high and the attempt for a tag by UCI's Taylor Holiday was ruled to have been made after Lissman tagged the base.

`I thought I got him,' Holiday said, but he didn't argue long with umpire Scott Graham.

`He had a good view of it, so I guess I didn't,' Holiday said.

Hopkins hustled home for the game's first run, and off went the Beavers. Canham homered for two more runs and then Barney singled and scored on a triple by John Wallace.

That's a slim difference between the end of the inning in a scoreless game, and the Beavers in control.

`We really thrive off things like that,' Barney said. `Our team gets going off a walk or a (hit batter) or little things like that.

`We get antsy in the dugout, waiting for something to happen. When that happened, (it was) `let's start putting the coins in the merry-go-round,' that's what we call it.'

UCI had won consecutive elimination games in extra innings on the previous two days with late rallies to tie games, but there was no comeback against Turpen and the Beavers.

`A magical run has ended,' Serrano said. `I'm sure (the Anteaters are) fatigued but that's not an excuse. We just got beat by a better team, a team I tip my hat to.

`We were a little low in the tank but I don't want to take anything away from Oregon State.'

North Carolina 6, Rice 1: Robert Woodard and two relievers limited Rice to six singles and a double, Dustin Ackley broke open the game with a three-run homer and the Tar Heels beat the Owls.

Ackley, one of the nation's top freshmen, broke out of a 5-for-37 slump with a fifth-inning single for his school-record 113th hit of the season. In the seventh, Ackley blasted his eighth homer and first since May 11.