Lovell’s thoughts as Texas Baseball nears regular season finish

The 2024 Texas Baseball season can be characterized as somewhat of a roller-coaster ride. There have been ups and downs unlike any season during David Pierce’s tenure in Austin. This year’s team is not the best Pierce has fielded in Austin, but they have shown their tremendous ability at times. The season is not over and the preseason goals are still obtainable, but they will need to finish strong as conference and regional play begins.

To demonstrate the inconsistency of the Longhorns this season, they are a whopping 7-1 in Big 12 series’, with the lone loss coming to BYU at Disch-Falk. The Cougars are currently sitting in last place in the conference. On the flip-side, over the last two weekends Texas took the series from both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, who respectively sit atop the Big 12 standings. With brutal midweek losses to the likes of A&M-Corpus Christi and UTRGV, Texas does not have the postseason resume they would like. With that being said, Texas has set themselves up to play in a regional – something that was in doubt just a few weeks ago. The Longhorns enter this weekend 3 games back of Oklahoma for first in the Big 12 with two series to play. It is unlikely they can win the Big 12 but with some help it is possible.

The rest of the regular season isn’t just about winning the Big 12 but rather what the Longhorns can do in order to make a run in the postseason and hopefully a surprise trip to Omaha in June. Like most of the season, the recent stretch has had its ups and downs. Let us get into what has transpired over the course of the season and what Texas can do moving forward to continue their recent success.

Texas Has an Omaha Worthy Offense

Currently the Longhorns are on pace to break the school’s HR record set by the 2022 Longhorns (128 HR).  With an historic program like Texas, anytime a record is broken it is eye-opening. In what most Texas fans would consider a down year, the offense has unquestionably held up their end of the bargain.

Three of the top 5 home run leaders in the Big 12 play for the Longhorns. Max Belyeu leads the conference with 17, followed by Jalin Flores with 16 and Jared Thomas is tied for third-most with 14. That is some serious pop in the lineup. Despite having games in which they didn’t perform, more often than not you can count on the Texas offense to show up.

Gage Boehm Has Potentially Saved the Season

In the first half of the season, David Pierce did not know who was going to be the guy to close games. After some trial and error with various pitchers, that was answered with Gage Boehm. Boehm has proven to shut the door when asked to do so. He has just a 1.67 ERA in Big 12 play providing Texas with arguably the best closer in the conference.

Boehm has proven he is more than a just one inning pitcher as well as he has gone multiple innings in six of his last seven appearances. He has provided Pierce with evidence that in the postseason he can be relied upon to finish games regardless of the circumstances. Boehm will play a major role in whether Texas can make a run in the postseason or not.

Lebarron Johnson Will be The X-Factor to Determine Where the 2024 Season Ends

Pitcher Lebarron Johnson has had a bigger regression from one season to the next than any Texas pitcher in recent memory. Johnson entered the season as the Friday Ace following a coming out party last post season. He has posted a 5.82 ERA and has gone from the Friday Ace to now the #3 starter on Sunday. Johnson went almost two months between wins, winning 02/23 against Cal Poly and not winning again until 04/21 against TCU. He clearly has the talent to be an elite pitcher but he just has not put it all together this year.

Should Texas win a regional and possibly even a super-regional, Johnson will likely play a large part. If he doesn not return to form, it is hard to imagine the Longhorns finishing 2024 on a positive note.