Texas’ Alaniz Is in Control, Beats Florida

OMAHA —  It turned out Adrian Alaniz’s finger was fine.

Texas’ pitching plans for Game 1 of the College World Series championship round hinged on a blister on the middle finger of Alaniz’s right hand.

After he combined with J. Brent Cox on a four-hitter in the Longhorns’ 4-2 victory over Florida on Saturday night, he laughed when asked about it.

“For one thing, the blister was not a factor. It healed over throughout the week and didn’t bother me at all,” Alaniz said.

The Longhorns (55-16), who won the last of their five national titles in 2002, can clinch the championship with another win over the Gators (48-22) today. If necessary, Game 3 of the series would be Monday.

Alaniz (8-3), whose availability for the game wasn’t known until Saturday, turned in his second strong outing in the CWS. He had given up one run in seven innings of a 5-1 win over Baylor in the Longhorns’ opener a week ago.

“Already having that Baylor game under my belt gave me a lot of confidence,” Alaniz said. “I wasn’t even nervous. With the big crowd, that’s kind of unusual. But I was so zoned in that it was like tunnel vision.”

Alaniz and Cox got home run support from Will Crouch and David Maroul.

Alaniz turned the game over to Cox in the eighth with runners on first and second. Then the Longhorns had to withstand some anxious moments.

Cox, making his CWS-record 12th appearance, struck out Jeff Corsaletti and Adam Davis before Matt LaPorta’s two-run single pulled the Gators to within two runs. Cox got out of the jam after walking the bases loaded by striking out Brian Leclerc.

“He’s one of the best closers in the country, and I thought we were going to get to him,” LaPorta said.