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LSU ace Paul Skenes drags Kentucky baseball trash talk after winning weekend series

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•04/19/23•

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LSU ace Paul Skenes delivers a pitch during a game
Paul Skenes (Photo by John Korduner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

As we have seen throughout the conference this season, SEC baseball can bring out emotions. Especially when facing off against the perceived best team in the country, LSU. Teams who have faced off against the Tigers this year have made sure to bring their A-game and at times, been a little amped up.

Kentucky was no different this past weekend, going after Paul Skenes. LSU’s ace has been mowing down opponents all season but the Wildcats decided they wanted to get into his head. Unfortunately for them, the tactic did not work too well.

Skenes spoke about one specific at-bat on Wednesday ahead of his start against Ole Miss. He said there was some eye contact with a batter before striking him out on just three pitches. The soon-to-be first-round MLB pick did not seem too phased by the interaction.

“One kid was looking at me as he walked to the plate,” Skenes said. “I struck him out on three pitches and he looked at me as he walked back. I was just like ‘what are you doing?’ Just speaking from my experience, there wasn’t a lot of back and forth. Yeah, I don’t know… I felt like it was pretty one-sided. They might have been saying their stuff. But we said the last piece.”

LSU did get the last laugh, both in the game and over the weekend. Thursday night ended with the newly implemented 10-run rule, taking Kentucky down 16-6 in the eighth inning. The Wildcats took Friday’s game before Jay Johnson’s squad took the rubber match to remain undefeated in series against SEC opponents.

Skenes was not his normal self during his start but still had a good performance. He pitched six innings, allowing five runs (four ER) on seven hits and one walk. Where Skenes continue to be excellent was in the strikeout category, fanning 13 Kentucky batters. Even on an off-day, the LSU star continues to dazzle.

His performance brought the season’s ERA all the way up to 1.69. His K/9 is up to 17.6 — a truly absurd number from Skenes and there is still room to improve.

Kentucky and LSU are not scheduled to face off against each other again this season. Hoover is always a possibility during the SEC Tournament, where more than just a regular season series in Baton Rouge would be on the line. Until then, all we will have is Skenes brushing off their trash talk.