Had LSU never reached the point they were at on Thursday and Paul Skenes' Tigers career come to an early end, it'd still go down as one of the greatest pitching seasons ever.
Fortunately for LSU and its fans, they were treated to *at least* one more performance, and one that will not soon be forgotten. Not only was it an 8-inning, shutout performance, it also featured nine strikeouts that shot him well beyond Ben McDonald's long-standing strikeout record. Skenes now has 209, compared to McDonald's 202 in 1989.
Even more impressive is how efficiently he did it, hitting the 209 mark in 122.2 innings, compared to 152.1 for McDonald.
“I’ve gotten to talk with Ben a lot, and he called a lot of our games," Skenes said when asked about breaking the record. "Obviously had a really good career at LSU and in the Major Leagues. It’s cool. It’s cool to leave a legacy.”
But Skenes, who is widely expected to be a top pick in the upcoming MLB draft, wasn't thinking about that. In fact, he wasn't even paying attention to the equally impressive performance of Rhett Lowder on the Wake Forest side of the equation. It was a combination of performances that led Jay Johnson to dub it "the best pitched college basketball game" he'd ever seen.
But LSU's ace was locked in on what he had to do, and that was find a way to get his team to another round of games.
“To be honest," Skenes said, "I think it might’ve been cooler for the people in the stands than it was for me, just because all it came down to is just executing. ... It just comes down to slowing the game down and going out there and executing.”
It was also never really in doubt that he'd go on short rest in this game, despite what his coach might have indicated after the win on Wednesday. As early as Tuesday morning prior to the first elimination game against the Vols, Johnson had sketched out his pitching plans for the next three days. The first name was Ackenhausen, then a bit of a mystery with Thatcher Hurd baked in somewhere. But on Thursday it was Paul Skenes' name. Any questions? No. OK, time to get on the bus. At least that's how Johnson told it.
"I knew everyone was going to do everything in their power to get me ready," Skenes said. "Everyone was going to get everyone else on the staff ready to pitch, two or three more times for the bullpen arms. But there was no doubt in my mind. To be honest there wasn’t a whole lot of conversation.”
It all goes back to one of the first meetings this LSU squad had prior to the season, when the goals were set and they were very simple and clear: This team was out to win a championship. Anything less than that, and the goal would not have been achieved. Everyone needed to understand that, and they did, but none more than Skenes, who joined LSU as a transfer from Air Force and proceeded to have one of the best pitching seasons in college history. Skenes' performance helped to do just that.
The loser's bracket was also a road that LSU knew it could tread. Johnson's Arizona squad had done just that in 2016, and LSU followed suit the following year. That year it was a gutty Alex Lange performance that set LSU up for a showdown with Florida. The Tigers lost that series in back-to-back games and Lange never got a chance to pitch in the title series. If LSU can avoid that fate this time around, there's a safe bet it's Skenes on short rest again.
“The whole year we knew we could do it. ... The goal for this season was to win a national championship and everything along the way would be a bonus," Skenes said. "This was what we had our eyes on all year and it’s really cool to be here now.”
