Golden: How Texas baseball can build upon its near upset of No. 1 LSU

Texas will not play a better team the rest of the way.

But the Horns will surely get better.

They went toe-to-toe with the top baseball team in the country for eight innings at the Disch on Tuesday night, and while the early-season results haven’t been ideal, there's plenty of time to figure things out, starting this weekend at Cal State Fullerton.

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After two college baseball blue bloods exchanged body shots throughout a tight pitcher’s duel, the unranked Longhorns walked off their home field with some needed confidence.

The LSU Tigers walked off the field with the win.

The 3-0 decision could fall under the moral victory listing, but the Horns aren’t wired that way. They’re young and unproven, but to a man they understand the expectations that come with the uniform. A loss to the No. 1 team in the country doesn’t surprise anybody, but the manner in which Texas lost shows a bit of progression.

It's how you finish, not how you start

There’s obviously frustration with being 3-5. Four of the losses have come to SEC teams if you’re scoring at home (something Texas failed to do Tuesday). The desired result didn’t accompany them to the clubhouse, but time is on their side.

The offense remains the priority. Eleven runs in the last 34 innings and a .214 team batting average aren't going to cut it.

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“We’re still a long ways away,” coach David Pierce said, adding that this game evaluation should be viewed through the lens of his team facing three pitchers — right-hander Thatcher Hurd, lefty Nate Ackenhausen and right-hander Christian Little — whom he believes can all one day play in the majors.

“They could very well potentially be a big-league staff. It's that good,” Pierce said. “It's hard to gauge our success or lack of success versus that, but I thought everything in our day and our approach … I thought we hit some balls hard.”

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Texas lost to a team that’s expected to be in Omaha this summer, but the sellout crowd of 7,641 was treated to a coming-out party of sorts with sophomore right-hander Lebarron Johnson Jr. stating his case for weekend rotation consideration. He had a blistering fastball that reached 97 mph on the gun and showed good location on his breaking stuff, all of which had the Tigers flailing through five shutout innings of three-hit ball.

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Johnson could easily be confused with a player in Steve Sarkisian’s wide receivers room, but he was all pitcher for five brilliant innings. He held LSU's Gavin Dugas, Dylan Crews and Brayden Jobert, who entered the game batting .478, .565 and .450, respectively, to one single in eight plate appearances.

At times, Johnson looked downright unhittable against a Tigers lineup that came in hitting .328. The fastball was high-octane and he deftly went to the breaking stuff, confident throwing his slider and cut fastball as his out pitch.

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Johnson has 17 strikeouts in his last two starts and Pierce and pitching coach Woody Williams have to be excited about the long-term potential — that is, if Johnson can show the kind of consistency that separates a mid-week starter from a reliable weekend arm. Pierce used the word "repeatability," which meant getting more meaningful reps will have to come with the ability to stack quality appearances.

“(It means) just consistency, going out there, repeat mechanics and repeat strikes,” Johnson said. "Just competing out there consistently, not just with my fastball but also with my slider and splitter as well.”

'I know we're going to be dangerous'

With Lucas Gordon entrenched as the unquestioned staff ace and Zane Morehouse and Travis Sthele coming off a year where they combined for 41 appearances and nine starts, Johnson’s potential emergence with stuff his head coach described as "electric," the Horns will be in games, assuming the offense figures it out.

“I think we're a damn good team” said center fielder and team leader Eric Kennedy. “We just haven't really hit our stride in the box yet, but once we do, I know we're going to be dangerous.”

Dugas’ decisive three-run homer off Andre Duplantier II in the ninth inning left the yard in a hurry with plenty of room to spare, clearing the heads of the Occupy folks in left field. The homer would not have meant as much to Pierce had it been a solo shot. Of more frustration was reliever Chris Stuart having walked two batters to start the frame, which allowed Dugas to sit dead red against Duplantier.

“We didn’t make them earn those runs in the ninth,” Pierce said.

Better teams than this one have struggled to get the offense going early in the season, but the bats eventually showed up as the weather got warmer. The difference with this group is only three starters — Kennedy, fellow outfielder Dylan Campbell and shortstop Mitchell Daly — saw extended action last season.

The Horns have enough leaders in that dugout who have already assured the newcomers that this is no time to panic. Expectations are understandably high — it is Texas baseball, after all — and the fans are beyond ready for these bats to wake up.

“I think once we start hitting, we’re a very dangerous team,” Kennedy said. “We're going to be one of the last teams standing. I do believe that.”

Texas went the distance with a title contender.

Let’s see if the Longhorns can build on it.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas baseball fell to LSU, so what are the Horns gonna do about it?