LSU baseball: Paul Skenes' dominant start vs. Kentucky proves his potential worth in Omaha
BATON ROUGE – After the first weather delay was announced, Paul Skenes went home.
Skenes, LSU baseball's ace and the best pitcher in college baseball, had time to kill. He was the Tigers' starting pitcher on Saturday, but the 2 p.m. start had been pushed back to 7 p.m., giving him plenty of time to decompress before the biggest game of his life: Game 1 of the Baton Rouge Super Regional against Kentucky.
"I went home, played with the dog and got some food," Skenes said.
But the game didn't start at 7. Instead, he and his LSU teammates had to endure two more weather delays before the matchup finally started at 9 p.m.
"For the second (delay) I just kind of sat around, did what I needed to do to stay warm," Skenes said.
All of that waiting and yet, Skenes still dominated as LSU pulverized Kentucky 14-0 to win the first game of the Baton Rouge Super Regional.
"The whole time I was sitting in there for the delays, all I was thinking was that we're just going to get ... 12,452 people are going to go home, drink beer, come back and be even louder," Skenes said.
By his standards, Skenes struggled in his last start against Kentucky, allowing four earned runs in six innings pitched back in April. But when it mattered most on Saturday, Skenes got the best of the Wildcats.
Skenes didn't allow a run in 7⅔ innings pitched, striking out nine batters and surrendering just one extra-base hit. He consistently kept the Wildcats off balance, mixing his elite slider with a fastball that soared into triple digits on the radar gun.
"He threw the ball 102 mph and he threw more off-speed pitches than he did fastballs," Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said. "So he made the adjustment and we didn't."
After throwing a complete game against Tulane last weekend, Skenes has allowed just two earned runs in 16⅔ innings pitched during the tournament. He has 21 strikeouts to one walk.
Historically, Skenes has pitched his way into rarified air. He is only 15 strikeouts away from breaking Ben McDonald's single-season strikeout record for an LSU player.
And if the Tigers defeat Kentucky this weekend to advance to the College World Series, he would arguably be the primary reason why they would be a favorite to win it all in Omaha.
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Besides holding a 1.77 ERA in 107 innings pitched, Skenes' ability to consistently go deep into games allows LSU's bullpen to accrue extra rest and LSU's lineup to swing the bats without any pressure, knowing that there will likely be a zero on the scoreboard in the next half inning.
If Dylan Crews is LSU's best player, then Skenes is its most valuable. Rarely can one baseball player impact a game or a team like Skenes can.
Perhaps it could be enough to guide LSU to a national championship.
"We're talking Michael Jordan-type stuff," LSU coach Jay Johnson said.
Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU baseball: Paul Skenes' dominance keeps College World Series hopes alive
