BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – One LSU baseball player received special recognition on Thursday, June 1. The Collegiate Baseball newspaper named Paul Skenes their 2023 National Player of the Year. LSU Baseball marked the occasion with a Facebook post calling Skenes, “America’s Ace.”
The LSU pitcher is having a fantastic season leading the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament. The ace of the Tigers pitching staff heads into the Baton Rouge Regional with a record of 10-2 along with 167 strikeouts over 90 innings.
Skenes joins Ben McDonald and Lloyd Peever as the only LSU players to recognized with this honor. The website, lsusports.net listed some of Skenes accomplishments during the 2023 season:
- Ranks second on LSU’s all-time single-season strikeouts list behind Ben McDonald
- Leads the nation in strikeouts, strikeouts per nine innings and WHIP
- Most wins by any pitcher in the SEC
This is not the first time Skenes has been recognized with an award this year. The LSU pitcher was recently SEC Pitcher of the Year. Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews are looking to help the Tigers get through the Baton Rouge Regional which begins on Friday, June 2.
The Tigers begin their march toward Omaha with a game against Tulane at 2 p.m. inside Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
According to lsusports.net, Skenes “has pledged $10 for every strikeout he records this season to Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to the spouses and children of military and first responders who have died or been disabled.”
