Putkonen, Wooten, Carignan quiet Louisville's bats

UNC to meet Rice in bracket finals; Cardinals eliminated

Luke Putkonen, Rob Wooten and Andrew Carignan combined on a three-hitter as North Carolina survived against Louisville 3-1 Tuesday afternoon in an elimination game at the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium.

The Tar Heels (54-15) will face Rice on Wednesday at 2 p.m. EDT in the first bracket finals. UNC must win to force a second game on Thursday against the Owls. The Cardinals finish their season at 47-24.

Putkonen (8-1) worked seven innings with three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts. The only run he surrendered was a homer in the bottom of the first to Logan Johnson, who tied a record with his fourth home run in the College World Series. Rob Wooten allowed a walk in 0.2 innings with a strikeout. Andrew Carignan did not allow a hit over the final 1.1 innings with three strikeouts to record his 17th save.

UNC scored all its runs in the top of the second. Seth Williams had a two-out RBI single that knotted the score at 1-1. An error allowed two runs to come in, giving the Tar Heels a 3-1 advantage.

North Carolina also finished with three hits.