That's what solid pitching, strong hitting and two previous years at the College World Series did for the Tar Heels (52-12). That's why they advanced to the winners' bracket after an 8-4 victory, and will play Fresno State at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

"They had an aura about them," said Tigers coach Paul Mainieri, whose team fell to 48-18-1 and will face Rice in the 2 p.m. elimination game on Tuesday. "Their pitcher set the tone for the game, and threw good stuff. Obviously, their pitchers have been here and had a lot of confidence. They're as good a team as I thought they were; they played well tonight."

UNC's first step toward a return trip to the championship series began with right-hander Alex White, who went 0-2 in the CWS last year but seemed to have shaken off all the bad memories.

He gave up home runs -- only his fifth and sixth of the season -- to LSU's Michael Hollander and Matt Clark, the lead batters of the first and second innings, respectively. But he followed each homer with a strikeout, lasted seven-plus innings and gave up only three runs on four hits for his 11th victory of the season.

UNC's superior hitting undeniably helped keep White's confidence high, too.

With Carolina trailing for only the second time of the NCAA tournament, 1-0, Tar Heels Dustin Ackley, Kyle Shelton and Tim Fedroff all singled to load the bases in the bottom of the first inning before LSU starter Ryan Verdugo (9-4) walked Tim Federowicz on a full count to bring home Ackley and tie the score 1-1.

Still with no outs, Kyle Seager singled to bring home Shelton and make it 2-1, and Chad Flack's sacrifice fly brought home Fedroff to make it 3-1.

"It was real important that we respond after the first inning, get some runs, take a little pressure off Alex," UNC coach Mike Fox said. "I think you saw how he's improved since last year."

After Clark's homer for LSU made it 3-2, UNC stretched its lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the third inning on RBIs by Seth Williams and Garrett Gore. The Tar Heels also scored runs in the bottom of the fourth, fifth and seventh to give them an 8-2 cushion.

"We kind of singled them to death,'' Fox said.

The Tigers (48-18-1), winners of 25 of their previous 26 games --18 of those victories coming when they faced a deficit -- tried to rally.

After giving up a single to open the eighth, White was replaced by UNC freshman Brian Moran, who loaded the bases then walked Micah Gibbs to cut the lead to 8-3.

UNC senior Rob Wooten replaced Moran with one out and the bases still loaded, but LSU managed only one more run when D.J. LeMahieu singled and beat third baseman Flack's throw to first base. UNC ended the inning on a questionable double-play call when LSU's Leon Landry appeared to beat Ryan Graepel the shortstop's throw to first, but was called out.

"It was pretty obvious to me that he was safe ... it was a big call, it would have made it 8-5 with the tying run at the plate with a guy that has 12 home runs for us,'' Mainieri said. "He called it the way he saw it, and we have to live with it. But it was a tremendous momentum break for us."

White gave up three runs on four hits in seven innings for UNC. Wooten picked up his fifth save of the season.

Also, UNC finished with 17 hits -- the most hits the Tar Heels have had in the College World Series -- marking the fifth time in six NCAA tournament games the Tar Heels have registered at least 10. Williams led the deluge, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs.