College World Series Notebook

by Will Kimmey
June 17, 2005

Horne writes strong ending for long journey

OMAHA--Alan Horne knows the meaning of finishing with a flourish.

After a slow and injury-plagued start to his college career, the redshirt junior has won nine straight games after helping Florida beat Tennessee 6-4 in the opening game of the College World Series. Horne held the best hitting team in the Southeastern Conference to two runs (one earned) on four hits in six innings. It improved the righthander's overall record to 10-2, 4.01, though he's compiled a 3.20 ERA during the win streak. It came after he opened the year 1-2, 5.46 in seven starts.

"I had some ups and downs early," Horne said. "It was command and confidence. I knew I was healthy, but I needed to get back out there and the SEC is really a tough place to get your feet wet."

"He's improved so much this year it baffles me," Florida catcher Brian Jeroloman said. "He works so hard."

Horne said the key to his turnaround came from commanding his fastball better, something he felt might become a problem before he threw his first pitch Friday. He called the Rosenblatt Stadium mound steep, saying he had to aim his fastball at the dirt to avoid leaving the pitch high early in the game. One could hardly tell during the first inning as he struck out all three batters he faced before finishing with eight K's on the day. The early success even surprised Horne, who entered the game with a 9.00 ERA in the first inning of games and a 3.52 ERA in all others.

"I'm a guy who usually struggles early," he said. "I got lucky, got them to swing at some breaking balls, and my fastball, I don't know if I was trying to hump up or what, but that mound was very different. I thought I was throwing thigh-high and it was up (in hitters' eyes). For me to get the ball down, I had to throw it right at (Jeroloman's) feet. I was trying to get so much of a down angle and they weren't getting good swings. They were only able to square up one ball on me and they were missing some fastballs in fastball counts."

Horne's nine-game win streak started against Georgia on April 9, which was about two years after he had Tommy John surgery. Horne's surgery marked the second significant injury he had sustained while at Mississippi, which he chose to attend out of high school in 2001 rather than signing as a first-round pick of the Indians. Horne battled through a stress fracture in his back as a freshman in 2002 before having the elbow reconstruction in the spring of 2003. He transferred to Chipola (Fla.) JC and saw limited action in 2004.

Horne decided to rejoin the SEC in 2005, enrolling at Florida as a redshirt junior for the spring semester to take one last shot at proving himself in the conference after going 8-4, 4.61 (a record he personally considered substandard) in parts of two seasons at Mississippi. Despite the ups and downs, Horne said he's pleased with how things have worked out--thanks to his strong finish.

"All the people speculated out of high school why am I going to college, and this is what I wanted to come to college for," said Horne, whose parents, sister and girlfriend highlighted his seven-person cheering section in Omaha. "To compete in the SEC and win a (conference) championship--which we've done this year--and to get to Omaha--we've done that this year--and not only to get to the World Series but to throw the opening game, be the first one to throw a pitch, and that's an awesome feeling to come out and be healthy again.

"And it feels great; it's been since high school since I've felt like this."

Red Sea Roots Huskers To Victory

The Nebraska-Arizona State game Friday night produced a Session 2 record attendance of 24,904. That marked the ninth-largest CWS crowd ever at Rosenblatt Stadium. Most of the fans meshed into a giant Red Sea, rooting the almost-homestanding Cornhuskers to a 5-3 victory. "I heard them all--24,878 must have had red on, " Arizona State coach Pat Murphy said.

"In some kind of weird way I'm kind of happy for the people of Nebraska," Murphy added. "It's their first win in the College World Series and their fans were unbelievable."

Arizona State third baseman Joey Hooft, who reached the CWS with Miami in 2003 and 2004, said he had never played in front of a louder crowd.

Nebraska coach Mike Anderson was grateful for the strong Huskers turnout, but was equally glad it didn't affect his team, which played with a focused determination.

"There was a lot of hype," he said. "We got more questions about the crowd than ever. (But) the crowd is not going to win games for us."

Indeed, Anderson's players won the game to notch the first CWS victory in school history. Nebraska went 0-2 in its two previous trips, in 2001 and 2002. And just as he did in Thursday's pre-CWS press conference, Anderson downplayed that history.

"For us the win is important because it's the 2005 World Series and we have a chance to advance," said Anderson, an assistant to Dave Van Horn on the 2001-02 teams. "We can't do anything about the 2001 team, and I hope these guys are thinking that way."

Delmonico's Decision

Tennessee coach Rod Delmonico switched his opening game starter from James Adkins to Luke Hochevar on Friday morning and got to answer the obvious questions about the move following a 6-4 loss to Tennessee in which Hochevar allowed a season-high six runs.

"I should've listened to myself, shouldn't I?" Delmonico said. "Hoch battled and he's been our Friday night guy all season. You could make an argument for either one; that was the decision we made."

Hochevar said he was prepared to get the call, that he followed his same pre-start routines Thursday before learning of the decision Friday morning. He added that the late change didn't affect his pitching. Florida's Pat McMahon said he wasn't surprised either.

"We were prepared," said McMahon, whose club Hochevar held to four hits and three runs in an 11-5 Tennessee win on April 29. "When you play teams in the course of the league (schedule), we've seen all their pitchers."

ROSENBLASTS

• Sunday's matchups are set with Arizona State facing Tennessee at 2 p.m. ET in an elimination game before Nebraska faces Florida at 7 p.m. in the winner's bracket.

• Friday's Florida-Tennessee game was the 800th CWS game played at Rosenblatt Stadium.