Sinton's Adrian Alaniz

[Old Dog]

Just thought many of you Sinton posters would be interested to know that there was a great write-up about Adrian in Friday's Austin-American Statesmans sports section. The article was just too long to post here. To see it, go to www.statesman.com and pull up the Friday, April 15th addition. The article gave his Sinton history as well as how and what has occurred while at UT.

[footballgal]

LONGHORNS BASEBALL
After a year to rest arm, UT pitcher Alaniz successful again
High school legend in Sinton now part of Longhorns rotation.
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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/01/71/90/image_1490711.jpg
Adrian Alaniz

By Cedric Golden

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, April 15, 2005

When Adrian Alaniz walked off the mound in Lincoln, Neb., last week, a familiar feeling washed over him.

He felt like the man again.

The redshirt freshman right-hander pitched into the seventh inning and struck out a career-high nine in top-ranked Texas' 11-4 victory over the Cornhuskers.

"It was his coming-out party,'' said Longhorns reliever J. Brent Cox. "We needed that win and it was like Adrian was saying, 'Come on, jump on my shoulders. You can count on me to get the job done.' "

Alaniz owns a sharp slider and a fastball that gets up to about 92 mph. He sports a modest 2-0 record with a 2.14 earned-run average and while the two wins are nothing special, the zero is significant.

Alaniz has not lost a decision since his freshman year of high school, six seasons ago.

There was a time when Alaniz was arguably the state's top prep pitcher, mowing down opponents as quickly as they stepped into the batter's box. He is a baseball legend in Sinton, a town of about 6,000 located 30 miles northwest of Corpus Christi.

Alaniz was 48-1 in four years at Sinton, and he was 17-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 150 strikeouts as a junior for the 2002 Class 3A state champions. After his lone loss in 2000, Alaniz won his next 44 starts, including an 11-0 finish to his senior year, when Sinton again reached the 3A finals.

He also was an all-state quarterback who led the Pirates to the 2001 state final.

Alaniz modestly shrugs off all the local legend talk. "I don't know about all of that,'' he said. "I was just out there having fun playing sports. It was a fun time.''

Alaniz said he entertained being a two-sport athlete in college after receiving football scholarship offers from Nebraska and Colorado but decided being a full-time baseball player suited him best.

Alaniz's final prep start was a nine-inning no-decision in the 2003 state semifinals against Canyon at Disch-Falk Field. Alaniz, a .440 hitter with 31 career homers, came through with a 10th-inning double off the center-field wall to give his team a 4-3 victory. Sinton lost in the final to Lorena.

Alaniz's workload for the Pirates was, in a word, heavy. His junior year, he threw 221 pitches over three days of the Class 3A regional finals, and in his final high school start against Canyon, he threw 160, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

So it came as no surprise that Alaniz had a tired arm when he arrived on the Texas campus.

"He had a sore elbow and so many times kids get pitched too much (in high school),'' said Texas pitching coach Tom Holliday. "I saw him throw his breaking ball, and the tension he had in his elbow concerned me. The conclusion was either rest him or risk losing him for good.''

Alaniz redshirted. His primary duty at home games was to chart pitches in the stands behind the plate. He watched intently how staff ace J.P. Howell set up hitters. He took note of Huston Street's presence on the mound. How Justin Simmons worked the corners. How Sam LeCure refused to give in to hitters.

And his elbow began to feel better.

"I honestly needed a rest because my arm was tired from all of that pitching,'' he said. "And I learned more about pitching just by watching. The veterans on the staff taught me the mental side of what it took to be a good college pitcher.''

Alaniz's well-rested pitching arm suffered a setback last fall.

After a successful summer with the Santa Barbara Foresters of the California Coastal League (4-0, 0.91 ERA), Alaniz felt a sharp pain in his elbow while throwing a change-up during the last month of fall workouts in Austin.

The fear of ulnar collateral ligament damage, which usually leads to those three words pitchers dread hearing — Tommy John surgery — led Alaniz to rest his arm, and the pain was gone by the start of the season. He began the 2005 season in an unfamiliar role, in the bullpen, but Texas' lack of left-handed relief help led the Longhorns to swap left-hander Buck Cody with Alaniz in the starting rotation.

Saturday's was his seventh start and perhaps his best. He appeared strong in his final inning despite throwing a season-high 134 pitches.

"He does a great job of pitching his game and using the hitters' aggressiveness against them,'' said Texas catcher Taylor Teagarden. "Nebraska was without a doubt the toughest atmosphere to pitch in. Now we know we have three starters that can give us five to seven innings consistently.''

Off the field, Alaniz, a Big 12 honor roll student as a freshman, has a goal of meeting the Dirty Worms, a local band that is responsible for his entrance song during games at Disch-Falk, "Top of the Food Chain."

But that has taken a back seat to a more immediate challenge.

"My No. 1 goal is to for us to win a national championship this year,'' he said.


Oklahoma at 1-Texas

Where: Disch-Falk Field

Game times: 6 p.m. today, 6 p.m. Saturday, noon Sunday

Records: Oklahoma is 20-12, 5-4 Big 12; Texas is 29-6, 6-5.

Television: Today (ESPNU), Saturday (FSNSW), Sunday (ESPN2)

Radio: KVET-AM (1300)

Today's probable starters: Oklahoma, RH Daniel McCutcheon (1-3, 7.67 ERA); Texas, RH Kyle McCulloch (6-2, 3.13)

Saturday's probable starters: Oklahoma, RH Steven Guerra (4-2, 3.58); Texas, RH Adrian Alaniz (2-0, 2.14)

Sunday's probable starters: RH Brad Burns (2-1, 3.49); Texas, RH Randy Boone (4-2, 3.05)

[District303aPastPlayer]

ladies and gentlemen may i introduce you to:

The Big Bad Wolf!

[footballgal]

Looking at Adrian's picture again, I was like who does he remind me of .... I figured it out ... Enrique Iglesias! :)

[PhiI C]

I remember that game with Canyon. That umpire was one of the worse ones that ever called behind the plate. In that game he called all the corner pitches balls and Adrian had never thrown that many balls before (of course when the other team did the same thing he called them strikes). We finally won in extra innings but he was used up as a pitcher and it could have hurt us in the game with Lorena. And even the good Lorena fans that saw that game were saying that they hoped he didn't call any of their games behind the plate. It hurt us against Lorena because that game went into extra innings and had Adrian not been used up the night before he might have been able to relieve Jason our other ace pitcher. It could have been a difference not that this is a reflection on the great Lorena baseball team that was great but you always wonder if that cost us another state championship because it sure seems to have met Adrian had to be redshirted. I know this sounds bitter but you had to be there and like I said even some of the Lorena fans didn't want him behind the plate. And you would expect at that level the UIL would have had good umpires. Now the one that called Lorena vs Sinton was fair.

[BrahmaMom]

I remember Alaniz in football 2001, baseball 2002--Bellville could not get away from that boy!! He was great then, and is better now. I watched him pitch the other night; I am so proud of that young man. He followed his dream and has gotten what he wanted through talent, drive, and hard work. Sinton has every reason to claim him as theirs. Best of luck to Adrian!

[Old Green]

He has a fine personality too. One of the nicest kids I have spoken to.:clap:

[injuredinmelee]

I remember watching him stifle the Wylie bats in Austin.

[injuredinmelee]

Hes pitching a gem tonight for the horns

[injuredinmelee]

DOnt want to jinx but I hope he gets the NO-NO. Three more outs.

[Holmes_Fans]

He does it! He threw a no hitter striking out the first 11 and striking out the last 15.

[3afan]

RETIRING the first 11 & last 15, not striking out ...