Jay Johnson provides update on status of ace Paul Skenes ahead of Thursday's CWS matchup with Wake Forest

The LSU Tigers won on Wednesday night in their College World Series matchup with Wake Forest, 5-2. That means they’ll get one more game with Wake in a winner-take-all matchup under the lights on Thursday night. It will surely be one of the most anticipated matchups in college baseball this season. The winner punches their tickets to the CWS best-of-three championship series with the Florida Gators. The loser will have to stomach the painful end of their 2023 baseball season. Many college baseball fans are hoping that we’ll get to see the matchup of Wake Forest ace Rhett Lowder vs. LSU ace Paul Skenes.

It’d unquestionably be one of the best pitching matchups of the 2023 season. However, fans will have to wait and see if Skenes will take the mound. Tigers’ head coach Jay Johnson said following Wednesday night’s win over Wake, that he’s not sure of his star’s availability.

“We’ll talk to him tonight,” Johnson said in the postgame press conference on Wednesday night.

Plenty of people, including Skenes’ own teammates, would love to see him take the mound on Thursday evening. He’s only a few strikeouts away from breaking the SEC single-season record.

For more on one of the most dominant pitchers in college baseball history, check out the article below from On3’s Barkley Truax.

Cade Beloso would love to see Skenes take the mound Thursday night against Wake Forest

Skenes has a chance to throw the Tigers to the College World Series with a victory over Wake Forest on Thursday night.

Teammate Cade Beloso, who hit the three-run home run that helped LSU defeat the top-seeded Deamon Deacons 5-2, would personally love to see the future first-round MLB Draft pick carve up Wake Forest with their season on the line.

“We love when Skenes pitches,” Cade Beloso said postgame. “I don’t know if he’s going tomorrow night, but that would be good for us.”

Skenes has been incredible for the Tigers this season. He has started in 18 games and boasts a 12-2 record, 1.81 ERA, a 0.776 WHIP and 200 strikeouts in 114.2 innings. He rightfully was named a First-Team All-American for his services on the mound for LSU.

Skenes made a mid-game appearance on the ESPN broadcast during Monday’s game versus Wake Forest — which the Demon Deacons won 3-2 — and revealed how his game has developed since joining the Tigers program.

“I’ve gotten stronger, grown in my body a little bit,” Skenes said. “A lot of it has been sleep and recovery, nutrition. I figured out some more stuff about how my body needs to move. Figuring out my sequencing, figuring out where my chest needs to be at the right time and that kind of thing. A lot of it was based on my chest.”

He was no slouch before he arrived in Baton Rouge, either. Skenes starred in his role as a two-way player at Air Force.

Skenes was a lights-out closer as a freshman for the Falcons, saving 11 games with a 2.70 ERA. He also hit .410 with a .486 on-base percentage. As a sophomore, he slumped at the plate to a .314 batting average but still managed to hit 13 home runs and have an OPS over 1.000. On the mound, he was 10-3 with a 2.73 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 85.2 innings as a starter.

“To be honest, it is simple if you do it for a long period of time, I think,” Skenes said during Monday’s broadcast. “I knew the importance of it. Honestly, I got some more resources that helped me figure out exactly what I needed to do to move more efficiently.”

On3’s Barkley Truax also contributed to this article.