LSU's Paul Skenes is matched against Wake Forest's Rhett Lowder in a premier CWS pitching matchup

2023-06-23 06:50

The game between No. 1 national seed Wake Forest and No. 5 LSU to determine a spot in the College World Series finals will feature a matchup of pitchers projected to be taken early in the first round of next month’s amateur draft

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The game between No. 1 national seed Wake Forest and No. 5 LSU to determine a spot in the College World Series finals will feature a matchup of pitchers projected to be taken early in the first round of next month's amateur draft.

LSU's Paul Skenes (13-2), rated as the No. 2 overall prospect by MLB.com, will go against Rhett Lowder (15-0), the No. 8 overall prospect, on Thursday night.

Skenes is the first college pitcher in 12 years to strike out 200 batters. He struck out 12 and carried a shutout into the eighth inning of LSU's 6-3 win over Tennessee on Saturday. His fastball was clocked at 100 mph or faster 46 times in the game.

Wake Forest is 18-0 in games Lowder starts. He struggled with his command in 5 1/3 innings of a 3-2 win over Stanford on Saturday.

The winner of Thursday's game advances to the best-of-three finals against Florida starting Saturday night.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25