The LSU baseball team’s win against McNeese State on a cold Wednesday night came with a bittersweet ending.Junior catcher Micah Gibbs slammed a go-ahead solo home run into the right field bleachers on the first pitch of the eighth inning that propelled the Tigers to a 2-1 victory, but coach Paul Mainieri announced after the game that junior pitcher Anthony Ranaudo will be scratched from his scheduled start this weekend because of a “stress reaction” in his elbow.”He just has some pain on the outside of his elbow, which is away from the ligament,” Mainieri said. “I don’t think it’s going to be anything terribly serious. He just has so much riding on his career that I don’t want to put the kid in a situation where it might make it worse.”Mainieri said Ranaudo will not need Tommy John surgery, but he is unsure how long the 2009 All-American will need to recover. He said Ranaudo could be out as many as three weeks.Mainieri said junior Austin Ross will start Friday and sophomore Joey Bourgeois will start Saturday against William and Mary at home, and Sunday’s starter is still to be determined.It was very much a pitchers’ duel Wednesday at Alex Box Stadium, as the game was tied at 1-1 through the top of the eighth inning before Gibbs’ second home run of the season.”I was looking for a fastball, something in the strike zone I could drive,” Gibbs said. “[Senior first baseman Blake] Dean gave me one of those prized hints, and it appeared to work.”Dean said neither he nor Gibbs would reveal the “hints” between them.”He’s always had it in him. He’s a big guy with a lot of power; it’s just finally coming out,” Dean said. “I talked to him a little bit before he went up there to hit, and it obviously worked. It’s a secret thing.”McNeese State used seven total pitchers on the night, with junior Zach Butler taking the loss. Gibbs said rotating pitchers so often was a strategy that made it difficult for LSU hitters to get into a rhythm.”You have to stay focused because they’re bringing in different guys with different arm angles,” he said. “You have to battle when you’re up there.”LSU got a sparkling pitching performance from sophomore Chris Matulis, who took over for starter Daniel Bradshaw in the fourth inning. Matulis pitched five innings and allowed four hits and no runs with five strikeouts.Matulis threw 71 pitches Wednesday, and he said movement in his pitching was crucial.”We were doing a good mix of in-and-out and up-and-down and changing eye levels,” Matulis said. “[Associate head] coach [David] Grewe does a great job pitch-calling.”Mainieri called Matulis “the story of the game,” and he said LSU and McNeese State fought each other until the end.”It was one of those games where it was a shame either team had to lose,” Mainieri said. “McNeese State was our equal. They gave us everything we wanted and more.”McNeese State left two runners on base in the top of the ninth inning after LSU sophomore closer Matty Ott allowed back-to-back singles, but a running catch by sophomore left fielder Trey Watkins sealed the game.The Cowboys took the lead in the first inning on a double by sophomore right fielder Lee Orr that drove in senior third baseman Steven Irvine. LSU finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning when Dean hit an RBI single to drive in Watkins.—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]