COLLEGE World Series

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ Tennessee right-hander Wyatt Allen went to the mound against Southern California with one thing in mind. <br><br>``I just wanted to get out of the second inning, to tell you the truth,''

Wednesday, June 13th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ Tennessee right-hander Wyatt Allen went to the mound against Southern California with one thing in mind.

``I just wanted to get out of the second inning, to tell you the truth,'' Allen said.

Not only did Allen make it through the second, he nearly pitched a complete game in leading the Vols to a 10-2 victory in a College World Series elimination game Tuesday night.

Allen (10-3) allowed two runs and six hits in eight innings, a drastic improvement from his last outing, when he gave up eight runs and eight hits in just 1 2-3 innings in a 21-13 loss to Miami on Saturday.

``I figured I couldn't do any worse,'' said Allen, who decided before the game to go from a four-seam fastball to a two-seam. ``I felt real good. I tried to beg for the ninth inning and I didn't get it.''

In its first two College World Series games, Tennessee pitchers gave up 33 runs.

``Pitching gets you places. It got us to the World Series and we were embarrassed with the way we played the last couple of games,'' Allen said.

In Tuesday's other game, Cal State-Fullerton eliminated Tulane with an 11-2 victory.

Stanford (50-16) plays Cal State-Fullerton (48-17) in the only game Wednesday night.

Ryan Case hit a three-run homer and Jeff Christensen homered and drove in four runs for Tennessee (48-19), which will play Miami on Thursday.

Matt Samuels allowed two baserunners in the ninth, but got Seth Davidson to fly out to center field for the final out.

Anthony Lunetta and Michael Moon each drove in runs for USC (45-19), which was knocked out of the CWS in three games for the second straight year.

``We like Omaha this time of year and we would have liked to stay longer,'' USC coach Mike Gillespie said. ``For it to end in such a thud and so suddenly is dramatically disappointing for all our guys.''

Anthony Reyes (5-4) took the loss for the Trojans, allowing six runs and six hits in 4 1-3 innings.

``When we started the season, our goal all along was to get to Omaha. We talked about it every day,'' Christensen said. ``We got here and we're not satisfied yet.''

Allen ran into his only trouble in the sixth. Brian Barre led off with a single, then after striking out Davidson, Allen walked Alberto Concepcion and hit Bill Peavey with a pitch to load the bases. Lunetta singled and Moon drove in a run with a fielder's choice. Allen then struck out Josh Persell to end the inning.

``I think we just got ourselves out. We swung at some pitches that maybe weren't our pitches,'' Davidson said.

Cal St.-Fullerton 11, Tulane 2

David Bacani homered twice, drove in five runs and made a number of outstanding defensive plays, and Darric Merrell pitched eight solid innings for the Titans.

``David's a warrior and has been ever since he walked onto our campus,'' coach George Horton said of the Titans' 5-foot-8 sparkplug. ``He's all about winning. And the way you've seen him here at the College World Series is the way he's played throughout his career. We call him Mighty Mouse and he plays like he's 6-foot-6.''

The loss ended Tulane's first trip to the College World Series. The Green Wave (56-13) were the nation's winningest team and lost to Stanford in the series opener, but eliminated fellow first-timer Nebraska on Sunday.

``I'm proud of our club and I'm proud to be coach of this team,'' Green Wave coach Rick Jones said. ``I'm disappointed the season ended today, but you just have to tip your hat to them.''

Merrell (8-4) allowed two unearned runs, six hits, struck out four and walked three in a solid pitching performance for the Titans.

``I didn't try to do anything different from what I did all year _ just stay calm and do what I've done all year,'' said Merrell, who lost a bid for the first CWS shutout in five years when he gave up two unearned runs in the eighth inning.

``This one, I felt great,'' Merrell said. ``And right off the bat, I threw strikes.''

Merrell hadn't allowed a hit since the third inning when the Green Wave finally broke through against him in the eighth.

``He had good stuff today,'' Jake Gautreau said of Merrell. ``He hit his spots when he needed to. He was really competitive.''

Michael Aubrey (3-1) allowed six runs, eight hits, struck out five and walked four in 6 1-3 innings.