Paul Skenes was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Men’s College World Series.

It happened without him even participating in the final series as LSU won 2 of 3 games against Florida.

Skenes, who transferred after 2 All-America seasons at the Air Force Academy, quickly became the No. 1 starter for the consensus preseason No.1 team and left his fingerprints all over the Tigers’ 54-17 record and 7th national championship.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander not only handled the call-up from the Mountain West to the SEC, he elevated his game in being named the College Baseball Payer of the Year by both Collegiate Baseball and D1 Baseball.

He was the most dominant pitcher in college baseball – leading the country in opposing batting average (.165) and in ERA (1.69, more than 1.2 earned runs per game better than the nearest competitor) – and was 1 of 3 finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, which went to Tigers outfielder Dylan Crews.

Skenes and Crews are also competing to be the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft that begins Sunday evening (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). If the Pittsburgh Pirates choose Crews (or perhaps Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford) over Skenes, the SEC single-season strikeout record-holder (who surpassed former Tiger Ben McDonald in his MCWS finale) figures to join the Washington Nationals at No. 2 or the Detroit Tigers at No. 3 at the latest.

Whichever team lands Skenes will be hoping that at some point in the not-too-distant future he’ll be a tone-setter for them as he was for LSU and inspire confidence in his major-league teammates the way he did in his college teammates.

Skenes, naturally, was the Tigers’ “Friday night starter,” and his team went 8-2 in conference series openers. Skenes got 6 of the wins and just 1 of the losses. With Skenes regularly getting the weekends off to a winning start, LSU lost just 2 of 10 SEC series.

He did lose Game 2 in the SEC tournament, and the Tigers were done after 3 games. But once the NCAA tournament got started, Skenes helped get LSU started on the right foot.

Skenes, who finished 13-2, went the distance as the Tigers began the Baton Rouge Regional with a 7-2 victory against Tulane and went on to sweep.

In the Baton Rouge Super Regional, Skenes won the opener 14-0 and LSU went on to sweep Kentucky.

When the Tigers got to Omaha, Skenes got the victory as the Tigers beat Tennessee in the opener 6-3.

He came back on 4 days rest as LSU, after staving off elimination with consecutive victories against the Volunteers and Wake Forest, faced the Demon Deacons again for a berth in the title series.

Skenes allowed just 2 hits and 1 walk, striking out 8 in 8 innings, throwing 120 pitches before leaving a game that remained scoreless through 10 innings. Ultimately the Tigers prevailed 2-0 on Tommy White’s walk-off homer in the 11th.

With just 1 day off before the start of the title series, it was clear that Skenes’ only potential remaining availability would be in Game 3, and only for a limited number of pitches.

No. 2 starter Ty Floyd got the ball in the series opener and did a pretty good Skenes impersonation, striking out an MCWS-record 17, and LSU eventually prevailed 4-3 in 11 innings.

With an opportunity to win the national championship in Game 2, the Tigers watched the Gators hit an MCWS-record 6 home runs in a 24-4 rout.

LSU had barely 24 hours to put the embarrassing loss behind it and get ready for the winner-take-all Game 3.

Head coach Jay Johnson resisted the temptation to start Skenes on 3 days rest and see how far he could go. Nonetheless, the Tigers’ hitters began the game swinging like a group that was playing with the security of perhaps getting 1 or 2 or more innings from Skenes at the end if he were needed.

He wasn’t.

As LSU was building an 8-run lead midway through the game, Skenes ran from the dugout to the bullpen to a loud ovation. In the eighth inning he got up and started warming, but returned to the dugout for the 9th.

After the game, which LSU won 18-4, Skenes was asked how close he was to going into the game. “About 12 runs,” he quipped.

When the Tigers got the last out, Skenes bent over at the edge of the dugout so catcher Alex Milazzo, who had suffered a serious lower leg injury while scoring a run earlier in the game, could hop on board for a piggyback ride to the dogpile taking place on the infield.

It was the closest Skenes got to the mound during the entire title series, so he didn’t have to carry the Tigers the way he carried Milazzo.

But he did join quarterback Joe Burrow and forward Angel Reese as transfers who helped spearhead LSU charges to recent national championships, Burrow in 2019 in his second season after leaving Ohio State, and Reese this year in her first basketball season after leaving Maryland.