Urban Invitational Baseball Tournament to Air on MLB TV

Bethune-Cookman University and Southern University are annual participants in the Urban Invitational Baseball Tournament, an event designed to showcase baseball programs at HBCUs and to pique minority interest in the sport. This year, black college baseball fans will be able to watch the final day of the tournament, as the Major League Baseball Television Network will televise Saturday’s contests.

The three-day event, scheduled to conclude on Sunday, helps spotlight Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by giving them national exposure. Bethune-Cookman University of Daytona Beach, Fla., and Southern University of Baton Rouge, La., will appear in the tournament for a third straight year.

Joining them will be local universities UCLA and Cal State Northridge, with the Bruins making their second appearance in the tournament and the Matadors making their first. San Diego State and the University of San Diego played in the tournament last year while USC and UCLA played in 2008.

The event will also feature a “Battle of the Bands” between the Bethune-Cookman Marching Wildcats and the Southern Human Jukebox, in addition to a battle of the bands between local area high schools. The tournament is organized by the MLB Urban Youth Academy, which endeavors to improve the quality of life in urban communities with baseball as one of the platforms for education and instruction.

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