Two nights after ending a losing streak, LSU baseball wants to start a winning one. “I don’t like losing streaks,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “I abhor them. To me, two games is a losing streak, and I like teams to bounce back.”Mainieri said his team did bounce back against Tulane on Wednesday and hopes it has “turned a corner” in terms of its play. The first test to see if they really have turned the corner will be this weekend when the Tigers (27-6, 8-4) will host Alabama (22-12, 5-7). “Certainly coming out [Wednesday] and playing as well as we did … I thought was really important too,” Mainieri said. “It shows a lot about the character of the players we have here in the program. They don’t get down. They don’t hang their heads. They keep playing hard.”A major factor in LSU’s turnaround was hitting. LSU stranded a combined 20 runners on base in its two losses, but the Tigers left only eight on base while going 11-for-15 with runners in scoring position against Tulane. “Last weekend was a tough weekend, but you try to forget about it and move forward,” said LSU sophomore right fielder Mikie Mahtook. “We had a big win against Tulane. The offense came out and had some good at-bats with runners in scoring position.”The cause of this turnaround might have been the extra emphasis on clutch hitting in practice Tuesday. LSU junior center fielder Leon Landry said the practice paid dividends in the Tigers’ game performance. Landry got two base hits and three RBIs in Wednesday’s game. The Tigers could use some of that clutch hitting when they face Alabama this weekend. The Crimson Tide are in their first year under coach Mitch Gaspard after former coach Jim Wells retired following the 2009 season.Gaspard coached at Northwestern State from 2002-2007 prior to Alabama. The Crimson Tide are fresh off a 10-5 win against Southeastern Louisiana in which they scored eight of their 10 runs on five two-out hits. But they haven’t played that well for long. The Crimson Tide fell out of the Baseball America Top 25 poll following a series loss against Kentucky last weekend. Alabama also lost a game against Samford on Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala. “I like Alabama,” Mainieri said. “I like their kids, and I like their coach, and I hope they have a really good year, but we have a job to do this weekend.”Doing that job for LSU on the mound will be junior Anthony Ranaudo on Friday, sophomore Joey Bourgeois on Saturday night and freshman Chris Matulis on Sunday. Friday will mark the fourth SEC start for Ranaudo, who missed four weekend series with an elbow injury earlier in the season. Ranaudo said this weekend fans will see him “unleashed” for the first time since his return. “My arm is 100 percent,” he said. “I’ve got no discomfort. I’m working out full time and doing everything on my normal routine.”Sophomore Adam Morgan will start for Alabama on Friday, sophomore Tyler White will pitch Saturday and junior Jimmy Nelson will get the nod Sunday. Saturday night’s game has been designated as Ben McDonald day. McDonald’s No. 19 jersey will be officially retired, and his name and number will be permanently displayed on the grandstand. The Denham Spings native pitched at LSU from 1987-1989 and set the LSU career record with 373 strikeouts. In 1989, McDonald set the SEC record for strikeouts in a season with 202, innings pitched with 152 1/3 and consecutive scoreless innings with 44 2/3.–Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]