COLLEGE WORLD SERIES : Titans Roll Into Final : Baseball: Cal State Fullerton routs Tennessee, 11-0; will face winner of USC-Miami game for championship.

Cal State Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido labeled this a rebuilding year before it began.

“But,” Garrido said Thursday with a smile, “we rebuild fast.”

Now the team that Garrido was so concerned about before the season began is one victory from winning the College World Series.

The Titans, already assured of the best record in school history at 56-9, are on the verge of the school’s third national championship after overwhelming Tennessee, 11-0, in a semifinal game Thursday in front of 14,242 in Rosenblatt Stadium.

Fullerton, which still hasn’t been beaten in regional play or in the Series, will meet the winner of today’s 4:35 p.m. (PDT) game between USC and Miami in Saturday’s 10:05 a.m. title game.

It will mark Fullerton’s fourth appearance in a championship game and its second in four years. Pepperdine defeated the Titans, 3-2, in the 1992 title game.

Tennessee, which finished the season 54-16, turned out to be no match for the Titans in Omaha, scoring only one run in two games while the Titans collected 22.

Fullerton scored seven runs in the first inning on a grand slam by catcher Brian Loyd and a three-run homer by third baseman Tony Martinez, then coasted to its 17th consecutive victory behind the superb pitching of senior left-hander Tim Dixon.

Dixon gave up only five hits in eight innings. Mark Chavez came on in the ninth to retire the Vols in order.

“I wonder how they lost nine games this season the way they’ve played here,” Tennessee Coach Rod Delmonico said. “We just couldn’t seem to get them out. . . . They had good pitching, played good defense and had good hitting. That’s really an unbelievable team.”

Garrido remembers telling his assistants before the season that he had doubts. “I told them I didn’t think this team was fast enough, quick enough,” Garrido recalled, “and that’s why the credit goes to the players. They’re the ones who developed this team.”

Again, there were numerous heroes.

Loyd had three hits, including his 10th homer, and Martinez had a series of sparkling plays at third base in addition to his two hits. Outfielder Tony Miranda and second baseman Joe Fraser also had two hits in Fullerton’s 15-hit outburst.

Mark Kotsay delivered a run-scoring double in four trips to the plate and is hitting .583 for his three games in Omaha.

Considerable credit for the ease of victory belonged to Dixon, who turned in his top performance of the year in leading Fullerton to only its third shutout of the season.

“I really didn’t think that much about a shutout,” Dixon said. “I just went out there trying to throw strikes and help the team win. It was a dream come true for me, pitching in the World Series.”

Garrido also was pleased with Dixon’s effort.

“There isn’t anything better for a pitcher’s mechanics than a seven-run lead,” Garrido said. “But he stayed focused. Competitive but relaxed. And his teammates were terrific behind him defensively.”

Loyd’s grand slam set the offensive tone for the Titans early and shattered Vol starter Scott Schroeffel.

“Coach Garrido called me over and told me that if their pitcher hangs one to go for it,” Loyd said. “I was looking for a curveball because that’s what they’d been giving me the whole game the last time.”

Loyd’s grand slam was Fullerton’s eighth of the year and second of the Series. Kotsay’s grand slam sparked the Titans to a six-run second inning Monday against Tennessee in the first game between the teams.

A hit by C. J. Ankrum and consecutive walks to Kotsay and Jeremy Giambi loaded the bases for Loyd.

An error by Tennessee second baseman Ed Lewis helped the Titans to three more unearned runs in the first. D.C. Olsen reached base, Jack Jones walked and Martinez drilled his sixth homer of the season to left-center.

Fullerton added another run in the second when Loyd walked, advanced on a hit by Fraser and scored on Jones’ single. Another run came home in the third on Miranda’s triple and Ankrum’s sacrifice fly.

The Titans made it 11-0 with two runs in the fifth. Ankrum was hit by a pitch and Kotsay drove him in with a double. Kotsay, who took third on the throw, scored on Giambi’s hit.

The game was played in chilly, overcast 55-degree weather, but Kotsay said the Titans weren’t bothered by it.

“We had 35-degree wind chill when we played in Texas this season and it was really cold in Wichita when we played there,” Kotsay said. “Maybe playing in that kind of weather before helped us out.”

Fullerton is trying to become the first top-seeded team to win the championship since the NCAA began seeding teams in the World Series in 1988.