Omaha, NE (Sports Network) - Jordan Lennerton crushed a two-run homer to lead Oregon State past North Carolina, 11-4, in the opener of the finals of the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium. The Beavers lead the best-of-three series, 1-0, with Game 2 scheduled for Sunday night. This series is the second repeat national championship match-up in CWS history and the first since Southern California and Arizona State met in the 1972 and 1973 title games. Mitch Canham knocked in a pair of runs for Oregon State, which is going for its second straight national championship. Last year the Beavers beat the Tar Heels for their first baseball championship in school history. "We're obviously excited about winning the first game," said OSU head coach Pat Casey. "We're very well aware we have to win again. We're very proud of our club. We got a tremendous start from freshman Jorge Reyes. We're getting some great performances. We've got a lot of guys doing a lot of good things." Oregon State is looking to become the first back-to-back national champion since LSU, which did it in 1996-97. Freshman Jorge Reyes picked up the victory for OSU after giving up three runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. Reid Fronk had two RBI for North Carolina, which has never captured the College World Series. Starting pitcher Alex White suffered the loss after allowing five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 frames. "We were beat by a better team tonight," NC head coach Mike Fox said. "That's all I can really say. They're pitching was on tonight. I thought their hitters looked good. They made us pay when we made pitching mistakes by leaving the ball up. It's a two-out-of-three series so we'll show up ready tomorrow. We still have one more game where we can be better than them. We'll show up tomorrow." The Beavers struck first and went up 2-0 in the second inning after Lennerton launched a two-run shot well over the fence in right-center field. Oregon State added a run in the third frame to make it 3-0. Joey Wong singled with one out and advanced to third on Mike Lissman's single down the right- field line. Canham then lined out to center on a sliding catch by Seth Williams and Wong tagged up on the play and scored before Lissman was doubled up at first base. The Tar Heels got on the board in the fifth inning by scoring two runs. Williams singled with two outs and Garrett Gore followed with a base hit to right. On the play, the runners moved to second and third as right fielder Scott Santschi let the ball get away from him. Fronk then doubled to the gap in left-center to plate both runners and make it 3-2. A run-scoring single by Chris Hopkins in the home half of the fifth gave the Beavers a two-run lead while two more runs in the sixth made it 6-2. Tim Fedroff's sacrifice fly in the seventh pulled the Tar Heels within three runs, but OSU tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the frame to make it 10-3. Benji Johnson's pinch-hit homer in the eighth pulled North Carolina to within four runs, but that is as close as it would get as the Beavers added a run in the bottom of the frame.
