Appleton, WI - SCOTT ALLAN couldn't make a two-day-old blister go away, but that didn't stop him from healing some old wounds.

The junior, who pitched only three innings Saturday because of the injury, fought through the ailment yesterday to toss a complete game to lead Montclair State past Allegheny of Pennsylvania, 10-3, and into the final round of the NCAA Division 3 World Series.

Allan suffered both his team's losses at the World Series two years ago - including a 16-1 whipping in the national title game - and the junior lefthander missed his first chance at redemption when the nasty blister on his middle finger of his throwing hand limited him to four innings Saturday.

He was afraid his season and the chance to make amends, were over.

"Everyone who looked at it told me that it would be 10 days to two weeks before he could do anything with a blister like that," Montclair State coach Norm Schoenig said.

Allan tried everything. He soaked the finger in pickle brine. He placed it in uncooked rice. He even put Preparation-H on it.

"I knew I wanted the ball," said Allan, an All-Stater at Immaculata High School. "I was willing to try every remedy in the book. I was up for anything."

Allan even tried to glue his finger back together. The combination of treatments worked somehow and Allan scattered eight hits and recorded a season-high nine strikeouts to give Montclair State its third straight victory after an opening-day loss in the double-elimination tournament.

Montclair State will face St. Thomas (Minn.) today at 4:30 p.m. A second game, if necessary, would follow at 8 p.m. Montclair State must win twice to take the title. St. Thomas is undefeated in the tournament after a 4-3 victory over Chapman (CA) in 10 innings last night.

Montclair State didn't waste time jumping ahead of Allegheny (38-10), which began the day with an emotional 4-3 loss to St. Thomas. Allan was staked to a five-run cushion before he threw a pitch, as Allegheny starter Rob George was racked for seven hits, including CHRIS BARAN's three-run double, in the first inning.

"It had to be extremely difficult for them," Schoenig said. "I've been involved in a lot of these (World Series) and serve on the national committee and I don't ever remember a situation like that, having to play right away after losing. No doubt about it, it was tough for them to rebound. So it was a tremendous help that they were so down. We needed to have that killer instinct to finish a team when it was down."

They weren't given much chance to get back into the game by Allan, even though he couldn't throw a curveball because of the finger. He relied on a biting slider that jammed right-handed hitters - six hitters were erased on weak pop-ups and grounders to second base. He also thew a nasty four-seam fast ball to get that long-sought World Series victory.

"I never thught I would get my chance," Allan said. "I feel like I got my redemption. I can erase everything else from my memory."

The Montclair State batters didn't let up after the first, totaling 18 hits, with seven players collecting at least two.

CRAIG CONWAY had three hits, including a two-run homer, scored twice and drove in three. That gives him 71 RBI for the season, the second-highest total in school history.

Baran went 2-for-4 with three RBI. FRANK LONGO was 2-for-4 with three runs and one RBI and BRIAN ELLERSON 2-for-5 with one RBI.

Allan even delivered an RBI single as a pinch-hitter in the top of the ninth inning to close out the scoring.