Tulane, as it's done a lot the past few weeks, refused to roll over at Alex Box Stadium, but they didn't have enough against possibly the best pitcher in college baseball.
Paul Skenes dominated, despite a few wobbles in the latter innings, and LSU won 7-2 to set up a date with the Oregon State Saturday evening. The Beavers demolished Sam Houston 18-2.
LSU's ace went all 9 inning for the first full complete game of his career. He struck out 12 Green Wave batters while routinely hitting 99 mph on the radar gun through the end of his outing. Skene's 121st pitch of the night hit 100 mph. He allowed two earned runs on a home run by Baton Rouge native Brennan Lambert in the 8th inning, but was otherwise virtually untouchable while scattering 7 hits.
“I had goosebumps the whole [9th] inning, it was awesome. … That was one of the coolest moments of my career," Skenes said on the field after the game.
The Tigers' potent offense went the small-ball rout on Friday, putting the first two batters of each of the first three innings on base, and driving them in without the long ball. Each of Tommy White, Hayden Travinski, Brayden Jobert, Gavin Dugas and Josh Pearson had RBIs.
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It was a welcome return to efficient play after a 3-for-20 clip with runners in scoring position in a loss to Texas A&M at the SEC Tournament.
"it's good baseball is what it was," head coach Jay Johnson said after the game. "A couple sacrifice bunts, couple sacrifice flies, two ground balls to the middle of the field with a man on third with less than two outs. These are things that we've done well, honestly, but it gets overshadowed because you've got seven guys with 10 or more homers."
Skenes (11-2) is the first LSU pitcher to throw a complete game in the postseason since Alex Lange against Cal State Fullerton in 2015. Aaron Nola and Lane Mestepey are the only other two LSU pitchers to toss complete games dating back to 2004.
Tulane's Dylan Carmouche (5-9) went 4 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits.
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