Standing in the concourse at Alex Box Stadium, the roar of the fans overhead felt like thunder, and Paul Skenes’ first pitch, a 101.92 mph fastball just high in the zone, looked like lightning.
Tre’ Morgan’s second home run in his second at-bat brought the rain as beer shot out of the spouts of Michelo Ultra tallboys in the Diamond Deck in right field.
For much of the day, which was sunny and hot, the NCAA Baton Rouge super regional felt like the eye of a storm – quiet and untouched - as the LSU Tigers and Kentucky Wildcats waited through a peculiar seven-hour rain delay without so much as a drop of rain for the first six hours of it.
"We were in the locker room, watching the games go by and Coach (Jay) Johnson told us to get locked in, so he challenged us to make sure we were ready," Morgan said.
That anticipation only set the stage for a dominant win by the Tigers 14-0 on Saturday. LSU is now one win away from a College World Series appearance and will play Kentucky in game two at 5:06 p.m. on Sunday on ESPN2.
When faced with questions about potential rain delays on Friday, LSU coach Jay Johnson offered a premonition.
"We will not start the game unless we have a window to play the game," he said.
The reason? Because he wanted to make sure his starter, Skenes, would be able to toss a full game, rather than have his outing cut short like it had been at South Carolina on April 6, when he went three innings before getting shut down due to a rain delay. The same thing happened to starting right-hander Ty Floyd the previous Saturday during the regional game against Oregon State.
"The largest window of lightning was at 3 p.m. today, and then if you looked at it, and it was looked at from every angle - the National Weather Service was on a call with myself, my sport administrator, their coach, their sporting minister, all the games committee - and if you listened to that call, there would probably be a greater understanding of why we didn't start the game," Johnson said. "I'm very comfortable with it... I focused on what I can control, which was the preparation of my team."
Good things came to those who waited, as Skenes not only worked quickly, but he pinpointed every pitch with precision, allowing him to throw 101 pitches through 7 ⅔ innings. He didn’t give up a run, allowing just four hits and striking out nine with his unrelenting 100-mph fastball. He walked one.
Last time the Wildcats faced Skenes, they hammered a season-high of seven hits off of him. He allowed four earned runs.
"He was up to 102 mph with the fastball and he threw more offspeed pitches than he did fastball - let that sink in - so he made the adjustment and we didn't," Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said.
What also didn’t falter was the crowd, which had stayed hydrated through the delay, and jumped immediately as Morgan took a pitch on a 1-2 count opposite field for his first solo home run of the day in the bottom of the first.
The Tigers added three runs in the third when a rare swinging bunt by Dylan Crews went for a single, and Tommy White drove him home on a two-run home run to left field. Morgan followed up with his second solo shot to make it 4-0. That marked his ninth of the season. He went 4 for 5 from the plate.
"Last week, I struggled because I felt like I was a little antsy," Morgan said. "I wasn't working middle to opposite field. I wanted to make sure I was a little late, working on seeing the ball and taking it deeper."
Kentucky stuck with its starting pitcher, right-hander Zack Lee, who had only seen the Tigers’ lineup through 1⅓ innings back in April. He allowed three earned runs back then, but he doubled that when he stretched his appearance to four innings.
The fifth of those runs was when Gavin Dugas’ long ball fell in the trees over the pitch clock in left center in the bottom of the fourth. The Tigers did some real damage in the fifth.
Lee was still on the mound in the bottom of the fifth when he delivered a pitch Josh Pearson took to the student section in the Diamond Deck in right field.
That home run tallied the team's 131st this season, eclipsing the national championship-winning 1996 team’s mark, which is third-most in school history.
Crews then reached on a fielding error by the third baseman and White singled. Morgan followed with his third straight hit – an RBI single that scored Crews. Lee was yanked for right-hander Christian Howe, who hit Hayden Travinski with a pitch to load the bases.
Two outs later, Brayden Jobert was hit by a pitch to drive in the next run. A wild pitch added the fourth run of the inning, then Jordan Thompson’s single added a pair to tally an 11-0 lead.
White’s second home run tallied the team's 132nd home run of the season, which surpassed the 1996 team. The moonshot cleared the scoreboard in left field in the bottom of the sixth for a 12-0 lead, then LSU added two more runs off of right-hander Seth Logue on another single by Thompson and a sac fly by Crews.
Blake Money came on in relief of Skenes in the eighth.
Jackson Gray reached on a fielding error by Ben Nippolt, who had subbed in for Gavin Dugas at second, but Morgan caught Felker’s line drive midflight with ease, stepping on the bag and jogging off.
Money finished the ninth by retiring the side in order.
"Sitting there with the delays, all I was thinking was we're going to get 11,000 people, I don't know how many... 12,452 people were going to go home and drink beer and be louder," Skenes said.
