One win away: Texas baseball takes control of Coral Gables regional with win over Miami

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — After Saturday night's win over Miami, Texas pitcher Lebarron Johnson Jr. was asked about his name.

Specifically, the reporter wanted to know if he was named after the old Chrysler LeBaron car. Johnson politely responded that he was simply named after his father. He is a junior, after all. And that aside from that, he doesn't know much about the origin of his first name.

"He's a T-Bird," Texas coach David Pierce wryly suggested.

Thanks to Johnson, Texas found itself in the driver's seat at the Coral Gables NCAA regional. Texas' starter shook off a shaky start and struck out eight batters in a 4-1 win that kept the Longhorns (40-20) undefeated in the regional.

Texas was scheduled to face Miami again late Sunday afternoon in the double-elimination regional. A Texas win would advance the Longhorns to the super regionals. A Texas loss would force a winner-takes-all game on Monday.

“A lot of baseball left and I’m just proud of our guys right now,” Pierce said.

Texas last had a pitcher throw a complete game in the NCAA Tournament in 2014. That time around, Chad Hollingsworth went the distance against Texas A&M during the decisive game of the Houston Regional. Nine years later, Johnson matched Hollingsworth’s feat.

But that didn't seem to be a likely outcome as Johnson was being visited by UT pitching coach Woody Williams after he had faced only four batters Saturday.

Johnson walked two batters in the first inning and needed a strikeout to get out of a bases-loaded jam. Miami loaded the bases again in the second, but Johnson escaped unscathed.

After that, he settled down. Texas' third-year right-hander allowed three hits over the next six innings, and a Miami offense that was averaging 10.5 runs per game was limited to just Dominic Pitelli’s solo homer in the fourth. To end the eighth inning, Johnson cleanly fielded a comeback grounder to strand a Hurricanes runner at third base.

By the end of the eighth, Johnson had already recorded career highs for innings pitched and pitches thrown. Texas kept him on the mound. He allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth but rebounded by getting a strikeout and a game-ending double play.

Johnson finished with 129 pitches. He allowed seven hits and issued three walks.

“He has great stuff in general. When you have that, it’s a big advantage,” said Miami pitcher Rafe Schlesinger, who threw seven innings of four-hit relief. “He’s definitely a dog.”

Pierce had two relievers ready in the bullpen in the ninth, and he considered pulling Johnson ahead of the game’s final at-bat. Pierce noted that Williams checked with Johnson throughout the game and said that “this guy's put together, he's in shape and it's postseason baseball.”

“He was our best option at the time and he wanted the baseball, and that's the key,” Pierce added.

Johnson hails from Jacksonville, Fla., which is a 350-mile drive from Coral Gables. He had just his father and mother in the stands, but Johnson said his sister was watching at home.

Playing in his home state, Johnson recorded arguably the best performance of his breakout season. It was certainly his finest moment in the postseason. In fact, Pierce told reporters that Johnson wasn’t even on the Longhorns’ postseason roster in 2022.

Johnson quickly corrected his coach. He was in uniform, Johnson insisted, but he just didn’t play.

“That’s why I don’t remember,” Pierce retorted.

In this case, however, Pierce and Johnson were both wrong. Johnson pitched 1⅔ innings of relief in UT’s 10-1 blowout of Air Force and its 13-7 loss at East Carolina in 2022.

On Saturday, Johnson had a performance that will be a lot harder to forget.

While calming the Hurricanes, Johnson improved to 8-3 and lowered his ERA to 2.62. In his seven appearances since entering an April 22 game against Oklahoma in relief, he has pitched 43⅔ innings, compiled 50 strikeouts and allowed just nine earned runs.

“Throughout the fall, throughout this whole year, I've been grinding, really trying to work my way into helping the team in any way I could," Johnson said. "Just to be able to work my way into doing that tonight, it was still surreal to me. I'm happy.”

The start of Saturday's showdown was delayed more than two-and-a-half hours by weather, but Texas struck quickly after the first pitch was thrown. Dylan Campbell clubbed a two-run homer in the first inning that cleared the scoreboard in left field. That swing also extended his hitting streak to 37 games, which is already both a Texas and Big 12 record.

Texas padded its lead with Jack O'Dowd's solo home run in the second. Jalin Flores then drove in a third-inning run with a single. Those final two runs ended up merely being insurance.

The game featured a scary moment in the third inning when Texas catcher Garret Guillemette was drilled in the head by a Karson Ligon pitch. Guillemette immediately dropped to the ground and was quickly tended to by the Texas training staff as well as Pierce.

Guillemette eventually popped up to his feet and was seemingly restrained by UT personnel. He jogged to first base, but was replaced by a pinch-runner after Miami made a pitching change.

Guillemette was examined for a concussion by the UT medical team and returned to the game after he was cleared. NCAA rules permit a player being evaluated for a concussion to re-enter after getting clearance.

Following his return, Guillemette singled twice.

For Miami, the one (at-bat) that got away

Key play: A big third out. Trailing 3-0 in the second, Miami loaded the bases with two outs. That set up a matchup between Johnson and Miami slugger Yohandy Morales, a potential first-round pick in next month's MLB amateur draft who entered the game with 17 home runs, 64 RBIs and a .407 batting average.

The battle lasted two pitches. Morales fouled off both of Johnson's offerings, but the second one was caught by Campbell.

"We had our chances early. Turns out, that was a big part of the game," Miami coach Gino DiMare said. "They scored early; we didn’t get the big hits with the bases (loaded). And we had our guys up, we had the right guys up."

Jack O'Dowd's power surge continues

Notable number: 3. O'Dowd hit three homers over 192 at-bats during the regular season. Saturday's solo shot was his third homer in four games at the Big 12 Tournament and this NCAA regional. Over the previous two seasons, he had gone long just once in 48 at-bats at Vanderbilt and Texas.

On deck for Texas: a regional rematch

Up next: Miami or Louisiana — again. Texas' Tanner Witt (2-1, 8.22 ERA) is in line to start on Sunday. He has been working on a pitch count in his first four appearances of the season as he works his way back from 2022 Tommy John surgery. He didn't pitch last week since the Longhorns lasted only two games of the Big 12 Tournament, but Pierce said Witt was "very good" in a team scrimmage last Saturday, when he threw 45 pitches over 3⅓ innings.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas takes control of NCAA Coral Gables Regional with win over Miami