NCAA announces updated start time for Game 1 between LSU, Kentucky

The NCAA has announced that LSU‘s Super Regional opener against Kentucky is scheduled to start at 8:06 p.m. ET as inclement weather moves over Baton Rouge despite mostly sunny skies.

Originally, the game was supposed to begin at 3 p.m. ET but was delayed. It did not rain over The Box before the five-hour delay was called.

Game 1 will be available to watch on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. LSU (-340) is a heavy favorite coming into the matchup, and the over/under is set at 11.

Nick Mingione talks about Kentucky’s approach against Paul Skenes

Nick Mingione is coming into Saturday’s Super Regional matchup with a plan, a back up plan and a back up plan to the back up plan against LSU star pitcher Paul Skenes. 

The Kentucky baseball coach raved about the future first-round draft pick, noting that he had been watching tape all week in the hopes of exploiting a weakness in Skenes’ game this weekend. That won’t be easy, but he refuses to lead his team into Baton Rouge without a well though out scheme.

“He’s super competitive. We’re going to have to match him competitively, I know it starts there,” Mingione said ahead of the Super Regional. “The fastball is really good, the slider. I was back in the office right now watching him, just trying to study to put our guys together a good game plan … sometimes when our guys have faced him [already], you ask them, ‘what do you see?’

“There is a pregame scouting report that goes into it, and then as the game goes on. It’s one of the good things about our offense, our guys communicate at a really high level.”

Skenes (11-2) has a stellar ERA of 1.90 with 179 strikeouts compared to 11 walks across 99.1 innings pitched this season. Opposing bats are hitting .171 off him this season and has only allowed 17 extra-base hits. 

It goes without saying that he’s a golden spikes finalist — as well as one of the top prospects in the upcoming 2023 MLB Draft. Skenes, alongside teammate and center fielder Dylan Crews, will likely be the No. 1 and No. 2 players selected during next month’s event.

Kentucky’s offense, which struggled during the first two days of the Lexington Regional, found the scoreboard with ease in Baton Rouge earlier this season. 

The Wildcats scored 25 total runs during the initial series but was only enough to avoid the sweep. LSU defeated Mingione’s squad 16-6 on the first day and 7-6 during the series finale. Kentucky won a 13-10 game two shootout but lost the series two games to one.