It’s not a Paul Skenes start unless someone scans the crowd to see if LSU gymnast and his beau Olivia Dunne is in attendance. And she was on Saturday for the Pirates’ ace’s game against the Yankees.
Dunne sat in the Bronx crowd for his last start of his rookie season, with Skenes-inspired boots on as it consistently rained in the New York City area throughout Saturday.
The white boots featured the black-and-yellow lettering of the word Pirates, typically seen on the team’s jerseys. Also on Dunne’s stylish boots was Skenes’ No 30.
Skenes and Dunne have been dating for over a year since they met at LSU as student-athletes.
Dunne recently detailed the first time she saw Skenes, and quickly realized he was a baseball player. The two became an item soon after.
Olivia Dunne was in New York for today’s Pirates-Yankees game to watch her beau pitch
Dunne was dressed in Skenes-inspired boots with the Pirates lettering and his number on them
Skenes rookie season lived up to the hype, as he cemented himself as the Pirates’ ace next year.
In 23 starts, he finished with an 11-3 record, a 1.96 earned-run average and 170 strikeouts.
The two had long tried to keep their romance under wraps, with their huge followings, but confirmed their relationship on social media last summer.
Skenes signed a $9.2million bonus when joining the Pirates to go along with Dunne being the highest-earning female collegiate athlete due to NIL deals.
Dunne has the second-highest NIL value per On3Sports, of $4million, only behind Colorado quarterback Shilo Sanders.
No other person in On3’s top 100 NIL earners plays a sport other than football or basketball.
In his season finale, Skenes only pitched for two innings, but did not give up a hit and struck out three. The Pirates defeated the Yankees 9-4.
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