David Pierce reveals Lebarron Johnson Jr.'s biggest struggles in Game 2

Texas baseball is preparing for Game 3 of the Super Regional series with a spot in the College World Series on the line, facing off against No. 8 overall seed Stanford, who the Longhorns beat in Game 1 before losing Game 2 to set up a winner-takes-all rubber match.

In that second game, pitching really did Texas in, although the bats weren’t as alive as head coach David Pierce would have hoped.

After the game, he discussed the pitching, starting with the starter, Lebarron Johnson, who only lasted four and a third innings before being yanked for Travis Sthele, who gave the Longhorns some long relief and also a few more runs.

For Johnson, though, he allowed seven hits, four runs and walked four guys. Really, just one of his worst starts of the year and at a terrible time. Per Pierce, it all started with the leadoff men each inning.

“Yeah, we couldn’t get the leadoff man out. So, that was kind of the issue all day is just trying to get the leadoff hitter out,” David Pierce admitted afterwards. Johnson routinely allowed the first batter to get on, which meant an immediate buzz to the start of each inning at Sunken Diamond, only putting more pressure on Johnson to try and get outs and avoid giving up runs. But with how strong Stanford’s lineup is, once Johnson had runners in scoring position, their power hitters did what they do: clear ’em out.

“Allowed some of their power guys to hit with guys in scoring position. But you know, that’s what happened. And you know, it’s one of those nights for us, it’s a great night for them and we just got to bounce back tomorrow,” finished Pierce.

Tough outing for Johnson in a potential close-out game against the Cardinal, but that ought not define his terrific season in total, because he’s been pretty consistent. Pierce says he’s a quick learner who can bounce back easily and the Longhorn coach will surely be confident in sending him back on the mound should Texas advance to the CWS.

“This is a guy that came in and all he’s done is just paid attention. He’s like a sponge,” said Pierce of Johnson. “Whatever you tell him, you better be right because he’s gonna try to do it. He works hard, he’s got a great arm, great body and is a great teammate.”

Obviously, Coach Pierce has one of his top pitchers’ backs after perhaps his worst day on the mound given the circumstances.