Paul Skenes describes first complete game of his college career

LSU star pitcher Paul Skenes put together one of the more masterful performances of his career on Friday. It couldn’t have come at a better time, as the No. 5 seed Tigers were squaring off against the Tulane Green Wave in the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament. He tossed the first complete game of his career in Game 1 of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.

He threw a career-high nine innings and fired 12 strikeouts in lifting the Tigers to a 7-2 victory over Tulane. Following the win, Skenes said he was really happy to be able to go that deep into the game.

Paul Skenes discussed his impressive performance on Friday

“Yeah, I think to be able to go that deep into a game really speaks to just executing pitches and did a lot better job this week than last week of executing my pitches. They came out swinging, which allowed me to have some short innings as well. It was really cool to be able to go that deep into a game. And just looking to build off of that tomorrow,” Skenes said.

He said that his head coach, Jay Johnson, let him make the decision of whether or not he wanted to finish the game. “There wasn’t a whole lot of haggling back and forth. It was pretty sweet. He asked me if I wanted it. I said yeah, and I had it,” Skenes said.

Friday was the tenth time in his college baseball career throwing over 100 pitches.

Not only did Skenes retire the side in the ninth inning to close it out, but he did it throwing the heat. He topped 100 miles per hour on his 121st pitch in the game, showing remarkable resilience. The LSU star noted that it’s a combination of conditioning and eating healthy to help his endurance.

“It’s a combination of all of that. Looking back to last year, and the year before I had a lot of volume on my body in the past and I’ve been able to manage it pretty well. So I don’t know exactly why that is. But then coming here and having, I think, gaining more access to knowledge about nutrition and really good strength and conditioning program and a lot of really good arm care, everything combines to allow me to do that, I would say,” Skenes said.

Skenes finished the game giving up just seven hits and two runs, while he struck out 12 to extend his nation-leading tally to 179 strikeouts. He also turned in a web gem with a play he made through his legs.

With the win, LSU will advance to face Oregon State. The winner’s bracket game will take place at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday.

And the Tigers are in great shape thanks to Skenes, who was near his best in the Baton Rouge Regional opener. The ace pitcher credited a little extra time off following the SEC Tournament with helping him get sharp again.

On3 Staff Reports also contributed to this article.