Oregon St. stops Rice, advances to CWS final

The Beavers will play North Carolina in the best-of-three series.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Jonah Nickerson pitched 72/3 shutout innings in his second outstanding start in four days, leading Oregon State to a 2-0 victory over Rice Thursday night and into the championship round of the College World Series.
Oregon State (48-15), which advanced from the losers' bracket after falling to Miami on the tournament's first day, will take on North Carolina (53-13) in a best-of-three series starting Saturday night.
The matchup assures there will be a first-time national champion: Neither school has won the College World Series.
Nickerson (13-4) took the ball for the Beavers after going seven strong innings in a 5-3 win over Georgia on Monday. The junior right-hander allowed two hits, struck out nine and walked three in this one, and was replaced by star closer Kevin Gunderson after fanning pinch-hitter Adam Zornes.
Nickerson walked off the mound and received a standing ovation from the appreciative Rosenblatt Stadium crowd, and got high-fives and fist bumps from his teammates.
Gunderson struck out Tyler Henley, and pitched a perfect ninth for his 19th save, tying him with Kansas' Don Czyz for the national lead. After getting Josh Rodriguez to foul out to left to end it, Gunderson pumped his fist twice and hopped on the mound as the Beavers charged out of their dugout to celebrate.
No offense
Rice (57-13) was shut out by Oregon State for the second straight game after falling 5-0 on Wednesday. After scoring a run in the fourth inning of its 3-2 in over Miami on Monday, Rice failed to score in a CWS-record 23 consecutive innings.
The last team to throw consecutive shutouts at Omaha was Pepperdine in 1992.
Oregon State scored all the runs it needed in the second when Bill Rowe hit a leadoff double down the first-base line, and moved to third one out later on a wild pitch by Eddie Degerman (13-2). Mitch Canham's sacrifice fly to left made it 1-0.
The Beavers knocked Degerman, the right-hander with the unorthodox overhand delivery, out of the game in the fifth with another run, but could've gotten a lot more.
Chris Kunda and Shea McFeely both singled down the third-base line to start off the inning, and Darwin Barney drew a one-out walk to load the bases. John Wallace followed with a hard one-hopper that hit off Degerman's leg and deflected to third baseman Rodriguez, whose throw barely beat Wallace to first as Kunda scored.
Degerman, who pitched in Rice's 6-4 win over Georgia on Saturday, stood behind the mound, hands on both knees, as coach Wayne Graham came out and called on Bryce Cox from the bullpen. Cox came in and struck out Cole Gillespie to end the inning.
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