Jay Johnson breaks down decision on Paul Skenes, reveals how close he was to pitching

There’s no question that star LSU pitcher Paul Skenes helped lead LSU to their national championship win on Monday through his dominance on the mound throughout the season. But in their final three-game series versus Florida to secure the national title, he didn’t throw a single pitch.

In their final, winner-take-all game versus the Gators Skenes stayed loose in the bullpen throughout the game, but ultimately wasn’t used in LSU’s dominant 18-4 win. And after the game, head coach Jay Johnson was asked when he knew he wouldn’t even have to use his star ace at all to secure the program’s seventh College World Series title.

“You know, the three in the eighth, when we scored three in the eighth I felt like the wind was out of their sails,” Johnson said. “You could see the pressing in some of their at-bats was taking them out of their plan. We were just able to keep piling up quick outs. Like, after three, I didn’t think we would get Thatcher through six. But we started to separate there and made it 10-2.”

Thatcher Hurd got the start on the mound for the Tigers on Monday, and after giving up two hits and two runs in the first inning he settled in, not giving up a single hit or run for his remaining five innings pitched piling up seven strikeouts.

“Then we got a couple of quick innings. That made a huge difference. Riley had one inning in him. And at a 10-2 lead right there, I felt we could get a quick seventh. And then it’s Gavin [Guidry]. And then Paul’s begging me to pitch the ninth. And I’m, like, absolutely not. If they get within five we’ll get you up and throwing,” Johnson said.

Riley Cooper took over the pitching duties in the seventh inning despite Skenes’ persistence to pitch in the championship game. Skenes threw eight innings versus Wake Forest on Thursday in a must-win game for the Tigers, but Johnson revealed that his ace was available on a 30-pitch limit Monday night.

“But it’s not coach-speak or anything. Like we really go through these assessments with them in terms of his hips, his back, his lower half, all of those things. So his body is a great delivery. He needed to be able to stay in his delivery. We had to test all that stuff. Obviously test his arm,” Johnson explained. “And then we felt like if we needed him we would have him for 30 pitches tonight.”

Johnson wanted to use his 30 Skenes’ pitches wisely as the game neared its end. But once the Tigers extended their lead to 14-3, he knew he wouldn’t need Skenes’ services to lift the championship trophy at the end of the night.

“Then it became a decision of when do you use those 30 pitches. And I felt like we would have given Florida a shot in the arm had I started him throwing two innings and taken him out of the game. And I didn’t want to do that,” Johnson said. “I felt like with a three-run lead in the eighth, and they see him trot out there, the psychological help that that would have been for our team would have been enough to finish a close game.”

Skenes was still named the College World Series MVP following the tournament despite not pitching in the final series, adding yet another accolade and award to his trophy case following one of the most dominant pitching seasons in college baseball history.