Armed and dangerous Whether it’s on the baseball field or football field, Sinton’s Adrian Alaniz is one of the best in Texas
By Matt Young, Caller-Times
Adrian Alaniz
For better or worse, Adrian Alaniz likes to have the ball in
his hands.
Fortunately for Sinton, when Alaniz has the ball it's almost always
for the better and seldom for the worse.
As quarterback, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior guided Sinton to the
Class 3A Division I state championship game last season. For almost three quarters
it looked as though Alaniz would take the Pirates to their first football state
championship, but a couple of Sinton fumbles took the ball out of his hands and
allowed Everman to claim a 25-14 victory.
Sinton had a 14-6 halftime lead in the game, courtesy of two Alaniz
touchdown passes.
"It kept giving us a little twitch in our stomachs," said Alaniz,
who threw for 1,889 yards and 27 touchdowns last season. "We were almost there.
Just 24 minutes. Twenty-four more minutes, and we would've had it."
A year earlier, Alaniz found out the bad side of wanting the ball
in his hands.
In a bi-district playoff struggle against Cuero, Alaniz rolled out
to his left, looking for running room. With a Cuero linebacker setting Alaniz
in his sights, the obvious move was to duck out of bounds. Instead, the then-sophomore,
stopped on a dime, checked for the first-down marker and headed right at the charging
tackler. Bad move. Alaniz was planted in the artificial turf and left the game
with a separated shoulder.
The Pirates pulled out the victory when Emi Alaniz, Adrian's older
brother, stepped in at quarterback, but their playoff run was cut short in the
state quarterfinals with Adrian on the sideline, his arm in a sling.
"When we need an extra yard or something, I always want to be that
person," Alaniz said. "That's what got me hurt against Cuero. I guess it wasn't
that smart, but I'm the type of player that always wants to do as much as possible."
Baseball warrior
That warrior mentality even shows on the baseball field, where Alaniz
is Sinton's workhorse on the mound. In the region finals, Alaniz 221 pitches in
a three-day span, striking out 32.
Four days later, he struck out 10 in the state semifinals to set
up Sinton's state title.
"I'm always going to be the person that wants the ball, whether it's
football or baseball," said Alaniz, who has been the starting quarterback and
pitcher on varsity since his freshman season. "That's what's great about being
the quarterback and pitcher. Everything goes through you. It's up to you to make
plays a lot of times. That's the greatest feeling, to come through in a situation
like that."
Wanted man
Alaniz has come through in so many different clutch situations, he's
spending most of his free time these days sifting through offers from college
football and baseball coaches.
He's already received a scholarship offer from Baylor and has gotten
steady interest from several other schools, including Arizona and UCLA. David
Garvin's Heartland Recruiting service lists Alaniz, who plans to play football
and baseball in college, as one of the top 100 prospects in the state and the
state's seventh-best quarterback.
"He's not in our top 100, but he's right there on the border and
very easily could be listed there," said Jeremy Crabtree, editor of Rivals 100,
a college football recruiting web site. "He's got a definite shot at being a really
good college quarterback. He does everything right. He's a good hard-nosed kid
. . . a kid that you'd like to have leading your program."
Baseball career
College plans could change if Alaniz, who has never lost a start
in his high school baseball career, is selected high in the baseball draft.
"My parents and I have already had these talks," Alaniz said. "There
are a lot of options, and it's really too early to talk about all of them."
However, all that can wait. After coming up half a game short of
a state title last season, Alaniz is ready to finish the job before he graduates.
"He has tremendous physical talents, which is obvious, but he's also
got great character, and he's a tremendous competitor," said new Sinton head coach
Jimmie Mitchell.
The new coach likes the ball in Alaniz's hands, and that's exactly
what Alaniz likes to hear.
