Longhorns Country

Longhorns P Lebarron Johnson Jr. Named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week

Lebarron Johnson Jr. put together the best outing of his career in a dominant outing against Kansas to bring home the honors.

Connor Zimmerlee

Longhorns P Lebarron Johnson Jr. Named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week
Longhorns P Lebarron Johnson Jr. Named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week /

When Lucas Gordon produced his worst start of the season in the Texas Longhorns' 10-4 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in their series opener it felt like it could end up being a shaky weekend for the Texas pitching staff. 

Following Gordon's uninspiring start the Longhorns turned to Lebarron Johnson Jr. on the mound, who in his last appearance tossed 6.2 innings of shutout baseball out of the bullpen with six strikeouts in a 3-2 win against TCU. 

Not only did Johnson match stabilize the pitching staff for the weekend for Texas, he did so in dominant fashion. He produced the best outing of his career in a game the Longhorns had to win as he pitched a career-long seven innings, racking up a career-high 12 strikeouts and holding the Jayhawks to one run on four hits in what was a 6-2 win. 

His strong outing helped Johnson win Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors, the first weekly award of his career. Johnson is the second straight Longhorn to be win the award as Gordon was named Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the week for his outing against TCU.

With just seven games left in the regular season, including likely only two more starts for Johnson, his continued development will loom large for the Longhorns in the postseason. 

If he can start to consistently put together outings like his last two against TCU and Kansas then the Longhorns will have a deadly one-two punch on the mound with Gordon and Johnson in the NCAA Tournament. 

You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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Connor Zimmerlee
CONNOR ZIMMERLEE

Connor Zimmerlee is a writer and reporter for the FanNation network. Zimmerlee received his Bachelor's of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and graduated from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism with a Master's of Science in Journalism with a Specialization in Sports Media. 

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