Paul Skenes talks about creeping up on Ben McDonald's SEC strikeout record

LSU star pitcher Paul Skenes is two strikeouts away from breaking Ben McDonald‘s all-time SEC strikeout record. If Skenes gets to start again this season, he would very likely break the record of 202 strikeouts.

Skenes, who has 200 strikeouts on the season, hopped on with the ESPN crew during Monday’s game between the Tigers and Wake Forest. They asked Skenes about being close to breaking the record set by McDonald, who was also an LSU star.

“People have told me a lot about that,” Skenes said. “He’s called a lot of our games. I’ve talked to him a fair amount. It’s cool. It’s really cool.”

McDonald threw 202 strikeouts in 152.1 innings during the 1989 season when he pitched in 26 games and made 21 starts. He was 14-4 during the season with a 3.49 ERA, four saves and eight complete games.

Hawaii pitcher Derek Tatsuno has the all-time NCAA record after throwing 234 strikeouts in 22 games during his famous 1979 season, which is one of the best seasons in college baseball history. He also won 20 games that year, becoming the first player to reach that plateau.

Skenes has 200 strikeouts in 114.2 innings this season. He has pitched and started 18 games with a 12-2 record, 1.81 ERA and a 0.776 WHIP.

He was named the Dick Howser Award winner last week, and LSU head coach Jay Johnson said Skenes’ performance in the team’s first game of the Men’s College World Series was prime evidence why he deserved the award.

Skenes pitched 7.2 innings and allowed only five hits, one walk and two runs with 12 strikeouts.

“He just showed tonight why he was probably the clear-cut winner for that award,” Johnson said. “We tried to get him some rest and insulate him as best we could so he could be on track with his preparation because he does that better than anybody else. As good as the performance is, the preparation is even better. I think what gets lost with him sometimes because his stuff is so amazing, the pitch execution is tremendous. And when you put that kind of stuff with that kind of execution, you have Paul Skenes.”