Tigers Take Game 1 of NCAA Super Regional, 14-0

BATON ROUGE, La. – Right-hander Paul Skenes tossed 7.2 shutout innings and LSU’s hitters launched six home runs Saturday night to lift the No. 5 national seed Tigers to a 14-0 victory over No. 12 national seed Kentucky in the first game of the NCAA Super Regional round at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

With the win, LSU leads the best-of-three series, 1-0, as the Tigers improved to 47-15 on the season and the Wildcats dropped to 40-20.

Game 2 of the Baton Rouge Super Regional between LSU and Kentucky is scheduled for a 5 p.m. CT start Sunday evening, and the contest will be televised on ESPN2. The matchup may also be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network and at LSUsports.net/live.

“A great performance by our team,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “Obviously, as usual, it started with Paul pounding the strike zone with all his pitches, executing at a high level. I thought the at-bats tonight were really good. We had a good plan and guys stuck to it. We got some good swings.

“Then we played good defense for the most part, and the engagement of the team throughout the day was very mature and outstanding, and we look forward to Sunday.”

Skenes (12-2) earned the win after firing 7.2 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits with one walk and nine strikeouts. He increased his season strikeouts total to 188, the second-highest single-season mark in LSU history.

“You know that the adrenaline is going to be high and the emotions are going to be high,” Skenes said. “There are high stakes. But being able to calm yourself down and just get out there and execute, that’s all you need to do.”

With Skenes’ final strikeout of the night, the LSU pitching staff established a school record for strikeouts in a season with 684.

Kentucky starter Zack Lee (5-4) was charged with the loss after working 4.0 innings and allowing nine runs on nine hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

The two teams were originally scheduled to play at 2 p.m. CT Saturday before NCAA officials initiated a weather delay before the first pitch. The start of the contest was delayed until 9:06 p.m. CT, when the Tigers and Wildcats finally squared off.

After the lengthy weather delay, LSU first baseman Tre’ Morgan got the Tigers on the board with a solo shot to left field.

In the bottom of the third, third baseman Tommy White and Morgan added to the evening’s dinger total. To begin the two-out rally, centerfielder Dylan Crews recorded an infield single and scored on White’s two-run shot. Morgan followed with his second homer of the game to make the score 4-0.

Morgan’s multi-home run outing marked the second time he has hit two dingers in one game. He last accomplished the feat on May 14, 2023, when the Tigers faced Mississippi State.

“We know that everybody in that dugout believes we’re going to get the job done every time we step up there,” Morgan said. “That’s the confidence that we walk around with, and it definitely boosts us a lot.”

Second baseman Gavin Dugas tacked on to the Tigers’ home run total with a solo dinger to left field, and LSU led 5-0 after four innings.

The Tigers scored six runs in the bottom half of the fifth to take a double-digit lead. The frame began with a solo homer from left fielder Josh Pearson. After, Crews reached base on an error, and White singled, Morgan collected his third hit of the night with an RBI single to increase the margin to 6-0.

LSU loaded the bases on a hit-by-pitch from catcher Hayden Travinski and right fielder Brayden Jobert earned an RBI via a bases-loaded HBP. With the bases still juiced, Morgan scored on a wild pitch. Shortstop Jordan Thompson delivered a two-out, two-RBI single to widen the gap to 11-0.

White launched his 22nd homer of the season – and his second of the game – to give LSU a 12-0 lead. With that dinger, the 2023 LSU baseball squad hit its 132nd homer of the year, giving it sole possession of third place on school’s all-time list for home runs in a season.

The Tigers added two more runs in the seventh inning, as Thompson provided an RBI single and centerfielder Dylan Crews added a sacrifice fly.

LSU Postgame Notes

• Paul Skenes now has 188 strikeouts this season, and he is in second place on the LSU single-season list; the LSU and SEC record-holder is Ben McDonald, who fired 202 strikeouts in 1989.
• The LSU pitching staff has established the school single-season record for strikeouts with 684; the previous school mark was 682 set in 1997.
• Tre’ Morgan posted his second career two-homer game; his first came earlier this season (May 14) vs. Mississippi State in Alex Box Stadium.
• Tommy White recorded his fourth two-homer game this season.
• LSU hit six homers in a game for the second time this season; the Tigers also hit six homers at Georgia on May 18.
• LSU’s six homers in last night’s game represented its most in an NCAA Tournament game since the Tigers hit seven homers in Game 3 of the 2008 NCAA Super Regional vs. UC Irvine in the original Alex Box Stadium. That game was the final contest in the original Alex Box Stadium, which opened in 1938.
• LSU has 132 home runs this season; the third-highest total in school history. LSU hit 188 homers in 1997 and 157 homers in 1998.
• LSU has homered 15 times in its last three games