Pirates' Paul Skenes Faces Off Against Livvy Dunne

Skenes and Dunne's Athletic Accomplishments

Skenes and Dunne both met at LSU, after Skenes transferred there following his first two seasons at Air Force.

He excelled with the Tigers in 2023, after transferring in from Air Force, helping them win a National Championship. He had a 13-2 record in 19 starts, 1.69 ERA in 122.2 innings, giving up just 23 earned runs and seven unearned runs, while notching 209 strikeouts to just 20 walks.

The Pirates took Skenes with the first overall pick in the ensuing MLB Draft and he joined on a record signing bonus of $9.2 million, and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award for the 2024 season.

Dunne was the most followed NCAA athlete on social media, including 5.3 million followers on Instagram and eight million followers on TikTok. She finished her fifth season with LSU gymnastics this past spring, where they finished third at the National Championships.

She helped LSU win its first National Title in the 2023-24 season, as well as setting a career-high of 9.900 on floor twice.

Dunne also spent time with the U.S. National Team back in 2017. That marked her final season of competitive gymnastics, as she chose to retire from the sport following the conclusion of the season.

Skenes has also partaken in gymnastics recently, trying out the different events last year when Dunne was still at LSU.

He also made a tumble while attempting to get an out in a start last season vs. the Washington Nationals on April 15, something Dunne complimented him on.

Skenes Gears Up For Big 2026

The Pirates have postseason ambitions and they'll need Skenes at his very best to achieve that goal.

Skenes is coming off an incredible 2025 campaign, where he won the NL Cy Young Award, just the third Pirates pitcher to do that, along with Doug Drabek in 1990 and Vern Law in 1960.

He had just a 10-10 record in 32 starts with the Pirates, but a 1.97 ERA over 187.2 innings pitched, 216 strikeouts to 42 walks, a .199 batting average allowed and a 0.95 WHIP, along with a 10.36 K/9, a 2.01 BB/9 and a 5.14 K/BB.

Skenes ranked amongst the best pitchers in the MLB, with the lowest ERA, tied for the fourth-most strikeouts, the fourth-lowest WHIP, the sixth-lowest BAA and the 10th-most innings pitched, plus the fifth best K/BB, seventh best K/9 and ninth best BB/9.

The 23-year old will star for Team USA this spring in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, where he'll try and guide his nation to a championship.