By Phil Stanton
CBI Co-Founder/Editor
OMAHA, Neb. – Paul Skenes gave another dominating pitching performance.
Skenes struck out 12 in 7.2 innings as No. 5 LSU defeated Tennessee 6-3 on Saturday evening in the final first-round game of the 2023 College World Series.
The Tigers (49-15) will face No. 1 Wake Forest on Monday, June 19 at 6 p.m. CT. The Volunteers (43-21) will meet Stanford in an elimination game on Monday at 1 p.m. CT.
“Great night tonight,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “Our team was locked in from the first pitch. This time of year you win these games against these elite teams when great players play great. And that was certainly the case with Paul from the mound tonight.”
Skenes allowed five hits, walked one and gave up two runs in raising his record to 13-2. He hit triple digits on 46 pitches, including eight in the eighth inning.
“At different points today,” Skenes said, “I had all four pitches working. You have to look at their lineup but also at what’s working for me. And I went out there and made pitches, threw what they weren’t expecting at times and it worked pretty well.”
With the dozen strikeouts, Skenes raised his season total to 200, the top mark in the nation.
“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,” Johnson said of Skenes. “As good as his performance is, the preparation is even better. I think what gets lost with him sometimes, because his stuff is so amazing, the pitch execution if tremendous. And when you put that kind of stuff with that kind of execution, you have Paul Skenes.”
“He threw backwards,” UT head coach Tony Vitello said of Skenes. “Throws a hundred miles an hour and he threw backwards on our guys. He mixed it up. And in order to do that effectively, you’ve got to throw strikes and command your pitches. And he did that.”
At the plate, Brayden Jobert of LSU was a single short of the cycle. He went 3 for 4 with two runs and two RBI.
“I was trying to get the ball up,” Jobert said, “stay at the bottom of the zone. That was something that I needed to improve from last weekend. And that was the focus in BP and all the training going into this week.”
Gavin Dugas launched a homer to left in the second, his 16th of the season, to give the Tigers the early lead.
An inning later, Josh Pearson had a leadoff single, went to second on a base hit by Dylan Crews (2 for 5), moved to third on a groundout and scored on a comebacker to the mound to make it 2-0.
LSU doubled its advantage in the sixth. Hayden Travinski drew a leadoff walk and scored on a two-out triple off the bat of Jobert. Jordan Thompson’s base hit plated Jobert to make it 4-0.
The Tigers had a leadoff double by Crews in the seventh and a sacrifice fly by Tre’ Morgan brought him in to push the lead to 5-0.
The Vols made it interesting in the eighth. Christian Scott had a one-out double and scored on a single by Maui Ahuna to mark the end of the night for Skenes. Gavin Guidry took over on the mound and his first and only pitch was a homer to center by Hunter Ensley (3 for 4) to make it a 5-3 game. Riley Cooper came in from the bullpen and gave up an infield single to Jared Dickey before fanning Moore looking to end the eighth.
Jobert had a leadoff homer in the eighth as LSU extended its lead to 6-3. Cooper kept UT off the board in the ninth to record his first save.