Baseball's Brian Johnson Named SEC Freshman of the Week Again
Monday, May 3, 2010 | Baseball
University of Florida left-hander/designated hitter Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) was chosen as the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week for the second time this season on Monday after playing a key role in the Gators' sweep of defending national champion No. 9 LSU.
The southpaw picked up the victory on the mound on Sunday and batted .429 (3-for-7) at the plate during the series. Johnson worked 6.1 innings in the finale, giving up nine hits and three runs (two earned), with four strikeouts and zero walks. He also belted his first career grand slam to highlight the Gators' five-run fourth inning as part of a 2-for-4, career-high four-RBI effort. The rookie went 1-for-3 and matched his career high of two runs in the opener.
On the season, Johnson is 4-2 with a 2.90 earned run average and boasts a 35:9 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He is tied for the team lead with three wins in conference play, where he is 3-1 and with a team-best 1.80 ERA. Johnson boasts a .387 (12-for-31) overall batting average and has a .385 (10-for-26) clip in SEC action.
Johnson, who also earned the league's weekly accolade on April 5, continued the run from members of Kevin O'Sullivan's top-ranked recruiting class being named the SEC's Freshman of the Week this spring, joining right-hander Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) (March 1 and April 12), shortstop Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) (March 8) and first baseman/third baseman/designated hitter Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.) (April 19).
No. 4 Florida (31-11/15-6 SEC) returns to action on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. by hosting Bethune-Cookman (29-18/15-0 MEAC).
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