Alabama entered their Thursday matchup with LSU on the heels of a 9-5 loss to South Carolina in 11 innings that went to 1:54 Tuesday morning.That hangover from playing a late game was evident, as the No. 4 Crimson Tide (37-19, 18-13) amassed three errors early in the game to allow the No. 1 seed Tigers (42-16, 21-11) to score three unearned en route to a 9-6 victory.LSU will play the loser of No. 5 South Carolina and No. 8 Vanderbilt in an elimination game at 6:30 p.m. Friday.Alabama senior pitcher Austin Hyatt – an SEC First Team member – got the start for the Crimson Tide. He went three-plus innings, giving up six runs (three earned) on eight hits while striking out two and walking three.Two of those three unearned runs came in the third inning, in which the Tigers scored four runs to answer the two runs the Crimson Tide put up in the top of the third.Junior first baseman Ryan Schimpf started the inning with a double, his first hit of the tournament. Junior designated hitter Blake Dean drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs before center fielder Mikie Mahtook loaded the bases on an infield single.Junior right fielder Jared Mitchell scored Schimpf on a throwing error by Alabama first baseman Clay Jones that short-hopped in front of the catcher.Dean scored on an RBI single by DJ LeMahieu, the sophomore’s 30th RBI of the season.Hanover then grounded into what should have been a 5-2-3 double play, but the catcher threw the relay into the dirt at Jones’ feet at first, allowing Mitchell to score unearned with one out.Gibbs then hit an RBI single to score LeMahieu, putting LSU up, 5-2.LSU got back on the board in the fourth on another error, this time by ‘Bama second baseman Ross Wilson, that allowed Schimpf to score and give the Tigers a 6-2 lead.The Tigers had three errors of their own, but they were not as costly as only two runs scored off the errors.Sophomore Anthony Ranaudo, who was recently named to the SEC Second Team, got the start on the mound for the Tigers, going 7 1/3 innings, giving up four runs, three earned, on four hits while striking out six.Ranaudo’s six strikeouts gave him 124 on the season, which is the most strikeouts since Bo Pettit (121) in 2002.The Jackson, N.J., native got off to a strong start – unlike in his last outing against Mississippi State – picking up where he left off the game against the Bulldogs, in which he retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced.He struck out two batters in the first inning – including SEC Player of the Year Kent Matthes, who yesterday broke the Alabama single season home run record with his 28th home run of the year – and two in the second while hitting as high as 95 mph on the radar. He retired six of the first seven batters he faced.However, the sophomore got off to a rocky start in the third inning, walking the eight- and nine-hole hitters of the Crimson Tide. He then got center fielder Taylor Dugas to fly out to Hanover on a sacrifice bunt attempt for the first out of the inning before giving up an RBI single on a hit and run by shortstop Josh Rutledge to tie the game at 1-1.The Tide got another run when the Tigers attempted a pitchout to catch shortstop Josh Rutledge stealing, but Rutledge got in a rundown between first and second base before being tagged out by Tiger LeMahieu, which allowed a runner to score from third, putting Alabama up, 2-1.Ranaudo ended up allowing two runs in the inning while walking four Crimson Tide batters and giving up only one hit.In all, 15 runs reached base but only 10 were earned.The Tigers got on the board first when they scored in the home half of the second inning.Mitchell started off the second inning with a stand up double. Mitchell was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by LeMahieu and later scored on an RBI single by freshman third baseman Tyler Hanover, to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead.The Tigers had a chance to add to the lead in the inning, but sophomore left fielder Leon Landry, who got the start over junior Sean Ochinko, struck out to end the inning with runners on second and third.Landry finished the game 1-for-4 with a double after his three home run performance Saturday against Mississippi State. The sophomore left runners on second and third twice in the game.The Tigers got three insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on a pinch-hit home run by senior Derek Helinihi to put LSU up, 9-3.Alabama answered in the eighth inning when Hanover bobbled a routine grounder to allow a Tide runner to score, closing the gap to 9-4.Senior Buzzy Haydel then walked in a run.Freshman closer Matty Ott came on to get his 13th save of the season, throwing 1 1/3 innings and giving up a run.Contact Andy Schwem at [email protected]