It will be an all-SEC showdown at the Baton Rouge Super Regional this weekend as the No. 12 national seed Kentucky Wildcats come to town looking to avenge a 2-1 series loss at Alex Box Stadium earlier in the season.
Unlike LSU, which went 3-0 in its regional, the Wildcats got pushed to the brink of elimination against Indiana in the Lexington Regional. UK was ultimately saved by an offensive explosion that saw the team score 34 runs in its three wins.
That kind of success will likely be tougher against LSU’s pitching staff, but Kentucky does have one thing going for it: It’s one of the few teams that has made [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] look semi-human this season.
Skenes still got the win in the matchup earlier this season, but he gave up seven hits and four earned runs (though he also struck out 13 Wildcats). coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] said he expects a more polished version of Skenes this time around.
“He’s great at evaluation and given that that was two months ago, he’s in a different place than he was at that time and they’re a different team,” he said, per On3 “We’ll look at it and he’ll look at it and look at any adjustments that need to be made.”
[autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag], who will likely get the start on the mound on Sunday barring weather throwing a wrench into things, praised the Wildcats’ lineup.
“They’re a very scrappy team,” he said. “They put up good at-bats, have some good lefty sticks and some older kids. It’ll be a really fun weekend. I trust (pitching) coach Wes (Johnson) and coach Jay because they’re doing scouting all the time, so I just listen to what they say.”
On the flip side, Johnson pointed out how many viable arms the Wildcats have in the bullpen.
“Strength of them is the number of guys that can contribute for them on the mound,” he said. “Their pitchers have done a good job. They know who they are.”
LSU will look to advance to the College World Series for the first time since 2017 when it faces Kentucky this weekend in the super regionals. Game 1 is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.
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