BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU junior right-hander Paul Skenes received National Player of the Week recognition Monday from Collegiate Baseball newspaper. The designation marked the sixth time this season Skenes has received the national honor.
Skenes, a product of Lake Forest, Calif., defeated Auburn on Friday night, working a season-high 7.1 innings and allowing no runs on six hits with one walk and a career-high 15 strikeouts.
He became the first LSU pitcher to record 15 strikeouts in a game since Tyler Jones fanned 15 at the University of New Orleans on May 17, 2011.
Skenes’ outing marked the most strikeouts by an LSU pitcher in an SEC game since April 24, 2009, when Anthony Ranaudo fanned 15 against Auburn in Baton Rouge.
Skenes improved to 9-1 on the year, and he leads the nation with 139 strikeouts. He is also No. 1 in the SEC in ERA (1.73), innings pitched (72.2) and opponent batting average (.165).