BATON ROUGE, La. — Alabama baseball rallied for one run in the ninth but could not battle all the way back in a 7-3 loss to LSU at Alex Box Stadium on Sunday, bringing the Crimson Tide is 26-27 overall and 7-20 in Southeastern Conference action.
Alabama and LSU traded runs in the second before the Tigers moved in front with one run in the bottom of the third. LSU added two more to their lead in the fifth followed by the two teams trading runs again in the sixth — one for UA and three for LSU. In the ninth, the Crimson Tide used a leadoff triple from sophomore John Trousdale and a double from junior Jett Manning in the next at-bat to score one. Two outs later, junior Joe Breaux walked to place runners on the corners but a flyout ended the game and the series in favor of LSU.
Trousdale led the Crimson Tide offense, contributing a 3-for-4 day with an RBI and one run scored. The Tide first baseman finished a home run short of the cycle on Sunday. Junior Keith Holcombe homered as part of his 2-for-3 day that included an RBI and one run scored.
Alabama starter Garret Rukes (1-3), a redshirt freshman, suffered the loss while his Tiger counterpart, Nick Bush (1-1), came away with the win in the rubber match.
For its final series of the 2018 regular season, Alabama will host Ole Miss May 24-26 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The first two games of the weekend are set for a 6 p.m. first pitch while the regular-season and series finale on Saturday is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start. All three games will air live on SEC Network+.
