Jay Johnson hints at Paul Skenes start, pitching plan for Thursday

LSU RHP Paul Skenes had a heck of a year as he earned his recognition as the 2023 SEC Pitcher of the Year. Now, with the conference tournament underway, he may be up to start for the Tigers the next time out in Hoover.

Jay Johnson suggested a start for Skenes could be coming for LSU in their next matchup against Arkansas on Thursday evening. Still, he says that a lot is going to play into that decision so that everyone will just have to wait and see.

“I think you would want to come to the game tomorrow,” Johnson said. “We want to see who we’re playing and that factors into it. Next week factors into it.”

“We have a good idea of what we’re going to do. And (we’re) excited to get to tomorrow’s game with getting this one under our belt.”

Skenes won Pitcher of the Year after earning honors as Pitcher of the Week three times over the season. He did so by leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA. His 164 strikeouts were the second most all-time in a single season down in Baton Rouge.

LSU knocked off South Carolina 10-3 in the first double-elimination day down in Hoover Met. Stadium. Thatcher Hurd got the job done in that outing as he held the Gamecocks without a hit over the first four innings of the contest.

Now, to make it to Friday, the third-seeded Tigers have to knock off the second-seeded ‘Hogs. After taking two of three against Arkansas in the regular season, LSU will feel much better about their chances this time around if it’s Skenes who takes the mound this evening.

Johnson provides LSU’s mindset on postseason pitching rotation

The SEC baseball tournament is underway, and the LSU Tigers enter this year’s tournament as a three-seed. This year’s tourney will be held in Hoover, AL, from May 23- 28. With the tournament scheduled to be played in under a week’s time, teams must have some sort of balance when it comes to their pitching rotation. And LSU skipper Jay Johnson knows this all too well.

During an interview on Wednesday, Johnson provided an inside look at LSU’s mindset on their pitching rotation for the tournament.

“Yeah, we have a plan going into it what we’re going to do,” said Johnson. “Wes and I met Monday and talked about how we want to line it up. We feel good about that plan. You want to win every game that you play. I feel like the competitive element is how Coach Bertman built the program. And there’s bigger games that are coming than the ones that we’re playing here. But we’re going to focus on this for right now. And (we’ll) do it in a way that’s going to benefit us in the NCAA Tournament.”

“But yeah, it is what it is. This is the best event in amateur baseball outside the NCAA Tournament. And we want to play well, want to pitch well. I’ll be the one that will be kind of mindful of what we need to do, how we need to do it, pitch counts, what days guys pitch, all those sorts of things. And we feel like we have a really good plan.”