HOOVER, Ala. — LSU coach Paul Mainieri will give the ball to freshman right-hander Hunter Newman for the second-seeded Tigers’ game against third-seeded Arkansas in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for noon.

Top-seeded Vanderbilt and fifth-seeded Mississippi State will play in the second semifinal, which will start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Saturday’s winners will meet in the championship game at 3:30 p.m.

Newman will be making his third start and 12th appearance. He was placed on the tournament roster as an extra pitcher because of the potential for a heavy pitching workload. LSU is playing its fourth game in as many days. Newman took the spot of second baseman JaCoby Jones, who has a sore left wrist.

Mainieri made two changes to his starting lineup as the Tigers face their first left-handed starter in the tournament — Razorbacks senior Randall Fant. Chris Chinea has replaced Tyler Moore, who had a game-tying RBI double in the ninth inning of a 3-2 victory against Alabama on Friday, at first base base. Jared Foster has replaced Andrew Stevenson and will play right field. Mark Laird moves from right to Stevenson’s spot in center.

For in-game updates, follow @EastAdvocate and @MHarrisAdvocate on Twitter and you can join our chat at www.theadvocate.com beginning at noon.

Arkansas beat LSU 4-1 on Thursday and the Tigers won two out of three games in Fayetteville, Ark., last month.

Here are the starting lineups:

LSU (50-9)

1. DH Sean McMullen (.326)

2. CF Mark Laird (.289)

3. SS Alex Bregman (.385)

4. 2B Mason Katz (.392)

5. LF Raph Rhymes (.336)

6. 3B Christian Ibarra (.326)

7. C Ty Ross (.217)

8. 1B Chris Chinea (.267)

9. RF Jared Foster (.354)

SP — RH Hunter Newman (2-0, 2.18)

Arkansas (37-19)

1. DH Joe Serrano (.287)

2. CF Matt Vinson (.303)

3. LF Brian Anderson (.345)

4. 2B Dominic Ficociello (.260)

5. RF Tyler Spoon (.288)

6. 3B Jacob Mahan (.283)

7. C Jake Wise (.211)

8. 1B Eric Fisher (.222)

9. SS Brett McAfee (.255)

SP — LH Randall Fant (5-1, 2.08)

The Football Bowl Association has released the schedule for the 2013-14 bowl season.

Here’s a list of the most pertinent bowl games from an LSU perspective:

Dec. 30 – Music City Bowl, Nashville, Tenn., SEC vs. ACC (2:15 p.m., ESPN)

Dec. 31 – AdvoCare V100  Bowl, Shreveport, SEC vs. ACC (11:30 a.m., ESPN)

Dec. 31 – Chick-fil-A Bowl, Atlanta, SEC vs. ACC (7 p.m., ESPN)

Jan. 1 – Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, Fla., SEC vs. Big Ten (11 a.m., ESPN2)

Jan. 1 – Capital One Bowl, Orlando, Fla., SEC vs. Big Ten (noon, ABC)

Jan. 1 – Outback Bowl, Tampa, Fla., SEC vs. Big Ten (noon, ESPN)

Jan. 1 – Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif., BCS vs. BCS (4 p.m., ESPN)

Jan. 1 – Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz., BCS vs. BCS (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Jan. 2 – Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, BCS vs. BCS (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Jan. 3 – Orange Bowl, Miami, BCS vs. BCS (TBD, ESPN)

Jan. 3 – Cotton Bowl, Arlington, Texas, SEC vs. Big 12 (6:30 p.m., Fox)

Jan. 4 – BBVA Compass Bowl, Birmingham, Ala., SEC vs. American Conference [formerly Big East] (noon, ESPN)

Jan. 6 – BCS National Championship Game, Pasadena, Calif., BCS No. 1 vs BCS No. 2  (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M has changed starting pitchers for its game against LSU at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Blue Bell Park.

The Aggies will start freshman LH Matt Kent and they have moved junior RH Parker Ray from Friday to Saturday. Junior RH Rafael Pineda, who was scheduled to start Saturday, will not make a start in the series.

A&M won the series opener 2-1 on Friday night.

For in-game updates follow @EastAdvocate on Twitter or join our chat at www.theadvocate.com at 6:30 p.m.

Here are the starting lineups:

LSU (43-7, 19-6 Southeastern Conference)

1. DH Sean McMullen (.318)

2. RF Jared Foster (.368)

3. SS Alex Bregman (.403)

4. 1B Mason Katz (.374)

5. LF Raph Rhymes (.344)

6. 3B Christian Ibarra (.354)

7. C Ty Ross (.207)

8. 2B JaCoby Jones (.285)

9. CF Andrew Stevenson (.176)

SP — RH Aaron Nola (9-0, 1.92)

Texas A&M (27-22, 11-13)

1. SS Mikey Reynolds (.368)

2. 2B Blake Allemand (.264)

3. 1B Cole Lankford (.342)

4. C Troy Stein (.305)

5. 3B Hunter Melton (.262)

6. DH Daniel Mengden (.275)

7. LF Jonathan Moroney (.254)

8. CF Krey Bratsen (.264)

9. RF Jace Statum (.229)

SP — LH Matt Kemp (2-2, 4.05)

Advocate staff photo by TRAVIS SPRADLING — LSU cornerback Tharold Simon eludes Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver Derel Walker after intercepting a pass by Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Johnny Manziel.

Two days after he was arrested for reportedly threatening a Eunice police officer, former LSU cornerback Tharold Simon took responsibility for the incident but framed it as a misunderstanding with the officer.

The arrest of Simon, a 6-foot-2, 202-pound junior, came at ill-timed moment in the midst of the NFL draft, which Simon left school to enter in early January. It also came a day before the town planned to honor its native son with “Tharold Simon Day.”

On Saturday, Simon laid out his version of events with reporters on a conference call after the Seattle Seahawks selected him in the fifth round with the No. 138 overall pick

According to Eunice Police Chief Ronald Dies, a police officer asked Simon to move his car, which was blocking Beulah Street. Dies told The Advocate that Simon tried to muster preferential treatment and get the ticket fixed.

Simon was arrested on counts of obstruction of a roadway, public intimidation, resisting an arresting office and a noise violation. The resisting count stemmed from Simon’s refusal to put his hands behind his back.

Below is a transcribed explanation from Simon about how the events unfolded:

“The whole thing is my fault, and I shouldn’t have been parked on the side of the road,” Simon said. “I was just chilling in my grandmother’s house, and I seen a car pull up and it looked like a cop car. I went out there, and I went there he told me to move the car. When I moved the car I turned my music up, so when I pulled up in the drive way, he told me to give him my license. I just sat on the car while he ran the license and told the cops to come bring him a ticket. One of my friend’s had come to congratulate me on the draft that was coming up, and he told my friend to move. I had gotten out of the car, and I was like, ‘Man you trippin’ for nothing. There’s really nothing serious go on around here.’ I guess my pants was low, and he was like, ‘Get your pants up, or I’ll take you to jail.’ Then he just grabbed me and said, ‘Matter of fact, put your hands behind your back.’” I put my hands behind my back, but I had my (girlfriend’s) car keys, and I was trying the car keys to my cousin. I kind of jerked my arms or my wrist. I never ran, I never flinched or moved, so he said I was resisting arrest and took me to jail or whatever, and said I threatened his life or whatever. But I had like 30 witnesses, or whatever, out there knowing nothing was wrong and I didn’t say nothing wrong. I’m a humble guy, but I’m embarrassed about what happened. It shouldn’t have happened. Everything happens for a reason.”

Former LSU defensive end Barkevious Mingo has arrived in New York for the NFL draft.

Will Mingo be able to stay in New York as a first-round pick of the Jets? That question will be answered on Thursday.

Here is the video on NFL.com.

LSU senior running back Alfred Blue’s comments on potentially having a gay teammate in the school’s student newspaper are sure to raise eyebrows.

In a story Friday by the The Daily Reveille, LSU’s student newspaper, about the prospect of a gay teammate, the senior running back expressed skepticism about whether there would be acceptance in the locker room. How he went about it, though, is sure to raise eyebrows. 

“Football is supposed to be this violent sport — this aggressive sport that grown men are supposed to play,” said senior LSU running back Alfred Blue. “Ain’t no little boys out here between them lines. So if you gay, we look at you as a sissy. You know? Like, how you going to say you can do what we do and you want a man?”

Now, it’s important to note that fellow LSU players Trai Turner, Stephen Rivers and coach Les Miles expressed more nuanced takes. Turner, a sophomore offensive tackle, said if a gay man was on the roster, it wouldn’t matter so long as he was professional, courteous and a solid teammate. Rivers echoed the same sentiment. Miles, for his part, touched on the practical day-to-day aspects of running the program.

Fittingly, The New York Times addressed the topic in a tangential way several days ago. In its story, the paper noted the ho-hum response to Britney Griner, a star women’s basketball player at Baylor, disclosing she is a lesbian. And the thrust of the story is critical: It was blase because there’s a long-held, lingering and poisonous stereotype that female athletes tend to be homosexuals. Or as Portland State coach Sherri Murrell told the paper: ‘Oh, it’s just another lesbian.’”

Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, an outspoken advocate of LGBT rights, says in the Times story, there is reverse sexism and stereotyping.

And it’s translated into issues having thoughtful discussions on the culture surrounding athletics that presents a potentially hostile environment for a gay athlete to expose his sexual orientation. How so? Here’s Patrick Burke, founder of You Can Play, an advocacy group for LGBT athletes in the Times:

“We’ve had tremendous success in getting straight male players to speak to the issue; we’re having a tougher time finding straight female athletes speaking on this issue because they’ve spent their entire careers fighting the perception that they’re a lesbian.”

ESPN thinks St. Augustine running back Leonard Fournette is the top prep football prospect in the country for 2014.

It also thinks a lot of other Louisiana players aren’t far behind.

A total of 11 prospects from Louisiana made the first 2014 ESPN 150 list released Thursday.

By comparison, Louisiana had just five players on the final 2013 ESPN 150 list.

The Louisiana players on the ESPN 150 are:

No. 1: Leonard Fournette, RB, St. Aug, 6-1, 232

No. 7: Cameron Robinson, OT, West Monroe, 6-6, 325

No. 8: Speedy Noil, ATH, Karr, 6-0, 176

No. 21: Laurence Jones, S, Neville, 6-2, 208

No. 29: Malachi Dupre, WR, John Curtis, 6-3, 187

No. 31: Gerald Willis, DT, Karr, 6-4, 247

No. 39: Trey Quinn, WR, Barbe, 6-1, 200

No. 64: Cameron Sims, WR, Ouachita, 6-4, 190

No. 98: Garrett Brumfield, OG, University, 6-4, 285

No. 105: Garrald McDowell, DT, Covington, 6-3, 257

No. 119: Jacory Washington, TE, Westlake, 6-5, 211

Of the 11 Louisianians on the list only one, Jacory to LSU, is committed.

The Tigers have a total of four commitments on the ESPN 150, the rest from out of state. They include:

No. 53: Edward Paris Jr., S, Arlington (Texas) Timberview

No. 103: Devin Voorhies, ATH, Woodville (Miss.) Wilkinson County, 6-2, 185

No. 129: Sharieff Rhaheed, LB, Fort Pierce (Fla.) Central, 6-2, 202

For a complete list of the initial ESPN 150, click here.