Link Gumbo: 4-12-18

After a few weeks of struggles, LSU baseball is making a change to the weekend rotation. Fr. Ma’Khail Hilliard is moving up to the Saturday starting spot while Sunday is now an open TBA slot. Caleb Gilbert is going back to the bullpen, where Mainieri feels he can make a better contribution as a reliever. There are too many options to speculate who might get the Sunday start at the moment, though it won’t be AJ Labas, who went 6 innings against La Tech on Tuesday.

Today, the New Orleans Babycakes, the minor league team in Metairie, has announced that they will be retiring Wally Pontiff’s #31, in recognition of all the good works that the foundation in his name has done over the last 15 years.

LSU Gymnastics went to Raleigh, North Carolina over the weekend and punched their ticket to the NCAA Championship. LSU struggled early but eventually landed on their feet. LSU sealed the deal with a terrific showing on beam.

Brandon Saho of WBRZ had a feature on the humble beginnings of D.D. Breaux and the LSU Gymnastics team. Before LSU automatically filled up the PMAC on Friday nights, Breaux gave out tickets at a local Winn Dixie.

Everyone knows about the opening at QB for LSU, but Coach O and Dave Aranda have yet to find a nickel back as well. Kary Vincent played a lot of nickel for the Tigers early in 2017 before his struggles forced Dave Aranda to rely on more of a traditional 3-4 defense. Eric Monroe and Todd Harris are currently taking the majority of the reps at nickel.

Speaking of the QB battle, Alex Hickey of SEC Country caught up with QB Justin McMillan to get his perspective on the competition and what he thinks he can bring to the table whether he wins the job or not.

Festivities for the Spring Game on April 21st will include a pre-game block party and a post-game autograph session. For a full schedule from The Advocate, click here.

LSU commit Emmitt Williams put on a show in the Jordan Classic on Sunday. Williams scored 44 points en route to breaking the scoring record Lebron James set 15 years ago. Williams future teammates Naz Reid and Javonte Smart added another combined 30 points. Williams, Reid, and Smart along with Darius Days make up a star-studded recruiting class coming to LSU this fall. Will Wade’s Tigers will be a fun group next year with the addition of these heralded recruits along with the returning talent.

Multiple sources are reporting that Jr. Brandon Sampson has hired an agent and will shortly declare for the NBA draft. Sampson averaged 7.7 points per game this season while constantly dealing with a nagging ankle injury he suffered during the Hawaii trip.

Softball took the weekend series against Ole Miss. The Tigers won the first two games before dropping the finale. The series opener featured a 19 inning marathon that saw Allie Walljasper toss over 200 pitches before Amanda Doyle ended it on a walk-off single. They’ll be on the road at Tennessee this weekend, with Friday and Saturday’s games airing on ESPN2.