TUSCALOOSA — LSU made Alabama pay for missed opportunities and sloppy play when the second-ranked Tigers erupted for four unearned runs in the ninth inning to take an 8-5, come-from-behind victory in the opening game of a key SEC series.

LSU (25-8, 9-4 SEC) scored twice in the eighth to chip into Alabama’s 5-2 lead.

The Crimson Tide (21-11, 6-7) scored four runs in the seventh, highlighted by Brandon May’s three-run home run. May’s blast, his fifth of the season, was one of the few timely hits Alabama had in front of 4,686. The Tide stranded 10 baserunners.

LSU trailed 5-4 in the ninth, but Micah Gibbs led off with a ground-rule double. A fielder’s choice moved him to third. Nathan Kilcrease, the third Alabama pitcher, then got a strikeout to move the Tide within one out of a victory.

But Mikie Mahtook reached on an error by shortstop Josh Rutledge — one of four Crimson Tide errors on the night — that scored Gibbs with the tying run. Tyler Hanover drew a walk and Jared Mitchell lined an 0-2 pitch from Kilcrease to the wall in left-center to drive in two runs.

Ryan Schimpf, who went 4-for-5 with a home run in the sixth, then singled home Mitchell for an 8-5 lead.

The teams play again tonight at 6 p.m.