Tennessee Forces USC Into an Involuntary Exit

Tennessee established itself as an offensive juggernaut in its first two games of the College World Series, scoring 32 runs and pounding 42 hits.

The Volunteers, however, appeared in need of every bit of offensive firepower to offset a pitching staff that entered Tuesday night’s game against USC with a whopping World Series earned-run average of 16.94.

Junior left-hander Wyatt Allen changed that perception, and eliminated USC in the process, by throwing eight strong innings in a 10-2 victory over the Trojans before 23,101 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Third-seeded USC (45-19), which defeated No. 6 Georgia in its opener and lost to No. 2 Miami on Monday, finished with a 1-2 record in the World Series for the second consecutive season.

“We’re very disappointed because we expected to stay longer,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said. “I think it was a case where Allen was real good. Their club was real good. We were disappointed we couldn’t make a game out of it.”

Tennessee (48-19), the only unseeded team in the World Series, plays Miami on Thursday and must beat the Hurricanes twice to advance to the championship game.

“It was good to play a normal game,” Tennessee Coach Rod Delmonico said. “I know we’re a football school but we’d like to keep the score down if we could.”

Allen (10-3), selected by the Chicago White Sox with the 39th pick in the amateur draft, was intent on redeeming himself after giving up eight earned runs in 1 2/3 innings in a 21-13 loss to Miami in the Volunteers’ series opener.

“I was a little embarrassed because I let my team down,” Allen said. “All those people in Chicago were probably wondering why the White Sox drafted me.”

Allen showed why by limiting the Trojans to six hits. He struck out five and walked only one before giving way to Matt Samuels.

“We got ourselves out a lot,” said USC shortstop Seth Davidson, who was one for four. “He came at us early and then kept us off balance in the middle innings. He had it under control and we didn’t know what to do with it.”

Trojan sophomore Anthony Reyes had given up only two earned runs in his last 33 innings, but he struggled from the outset against Tennessee, giving up six runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked two, hit a batter, threw two wild pitches and was called for a balk in his shortest outing since April 8.

“It was a lack of preparation on my part,” Reyes said. “I didn’t feel good out there and I couldn’t make the adjustments I needed to.”

Chris Burke, Tennessee’s All-American shortstop, had only one single but still played a role in what turned out to be the biggest hit of the game.

After Reyes walked Kris Bennett to start the second inning and balked him to second, Justin Parker singled to put runners at first and third. One out later, Parker moved to second on a wild pitch.

Ryan Case, the Volunteers’ No. 9 hitter, came to the plate with two outs and Burke, who has 20 homers and 60 runs batted in, on deck.

“I knew they were going to try and challenge me because I’m hitting in the nine-hole and nobody wants to face Burke with runners on base,” said Case, who hit the first pitch from Reyes into the left-field bleachers for his third homer of the season and a 3-0 lead.

Tennessee left fielder Jeff Christensen had a run-scoring single in the third, a run-scoring double during a two-run fourth and hit a two-run homer in the seventh to lead Tennessee’s 10-hit attack. He is eight for 15 (.533) with two doubles and two homers in the World Series.

USC trailed, 6-0, when it scored twice in the sixth on an RBI single by Anthony Lunetta and a ground-ball out by Michael Moon.

The Trojans almost got back into the game when Davidson hit a fly ball toward the right-field fence with two out and a runner on in the seventh, but a 23-mph wind kept the ball in the park and right fielder Dan Wilson settled under it to make the catch.

“Sometimes, they let balls go by that were right down the middle,” Allen said. “They were hitting the pitches I wanted them to.”