Florida A&M Rattlers Jake Gaither Classic still not finalized

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- The Week Zero lineup is falling into place with FCS games, so is the inaugural Jake Gaither Classic next?

ESPN announced on Wednesday a restructured schedule of games for Aug. 26 and 27. The lineup did not include the Jake Gaither Classic, which matches SWAC member Texas Southern at MEAC member Florida A&M in Tallahassee, but the cable television giant is said to be seeking a game time that weekend for one of its family of networks.



The NCAA doesn't allow Division I programs to begin their seasons until the Thursday preceding Labor Day, but there is an "FCS First Contest Exception" in the NCAA Bylaws, which allows for two non-conference programs to face each other prior to that Thursday (this year, it's Aug. 31) as long as they are playing in a nationally televised contest (broadcast or cable, not Internet-only). They are considered Week Zero games.

ESPN networks are televising Chattanooga-Jacksonville State and Colgate-Cal Poly matchups on Aug. 26 and Richmond-Sam Houston State on Aug. 27. All three games have 7:05 p.m. ET kickoffs.

Texas Southern and Florida A&M announced their matchup in January. The holdup with the kickoff could involve game-time parameters due to summer heat.

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B-CU Advances to First Baseball Regional Final

GAINESVILLE, Florida. -- Bethune-Cookman made history Sunday with a 6-4 victory over South Florida in the NCAA Gainesville [Fla.] Regional at McKethan Stadium.

Nate Sterijevski, Austin Garcia and Demetrius Sims each had two hits, while Alex Herrera, Ivan Countinho and Joseph Calamita combined to throw six consecutive shutout innings to help the Wildcats (35-24) pull away from a 3-3 tie and advance to a regional final for the first time in program history.

Bethune-Cookman will face host Florida at 7 p.m.



South Florida (42-19) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Kevin Merrell's solo homer, but the Wildcats answered by scoring three runs without hitting the ball out of the infield.

Sims scored on Danny Rodriguez's infield single, Adonis Lao when Garcia drew a bases-loaded walk, and Jameel Edney plated on a double play to make it a 3-1 game.

After the Bulls tied the game with two in the second, Sterijevski smacked a two-run homer to left in the third to help the Wildcats regain a two-run lead. Lao singled home Josten Heron in the fourth.

Herrera (4-1) buckled down after giving up six hits in the first two innings, giving up just two hits over the next four innings before yielding to Countinho, who worked two-innings of one hit relief.

Calamita entered in the eighth and squashed a Bulls rally with just five pitches. He gave up a harmless home run to Tyler Dietrich in the ninth en route to his third save of the season.

Donte Lindsay will start for the Wildcats tonight.

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HU hurdler Jaelen Williams has come a long way, and he's just getting started

HAMPTON, Virginia -- Having come so far in a relatively short period of time, Hampton University hurdler Jaelen Williams didn't go into last weekend's NCAA East Regional Qualifier with a timid approach. If anything, his coach feared he was teetering in the opposite direction.

So Maurice Pierce went to work.

"He was so amped up," Pierce said. "He said, 'Coach, I'm going to run a 49.5, I'm going to do some damage out here!' I said, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, you don't have to do all that! This meet here is just to advance.'

"He's so good that sometimes you have to calm him down because he gets antsy. I wanted him to concentrate on winning his section and advancing to the nationals. We can chase a time when we get there."

There is the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Nationals in Eugene, Ore. — a.k.a., Track Town USA. Williams will be the only freshman of 24 competitors in the 400-meter hurdles when the preliminaries begin Wednesday night.

Last weekend in Lexington, Ky., he automatically qualified by winning his heat with a PR time of 50.32 seconds. That came only four weeks after he ran a 51.42 in the Penn Relays. And, assuming he heeded Pierce's advice, he wasn't even running all out.

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Check out 15 of Roger Cador's finest over his stellar 33-year career at Southern

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Who were the best players of Roger Cador’s 33-year run at Southern?

The icon provided 15 of his top players to The Advocate.

The list should start with Trent Hubbard, a player Cador inherited when he began as a coach in 1987, convincing the 5-foot-9 junior to switch into the infield, a move that got Hubbard drafted and eventually launched a 10-year major league career.

And the run should finish with two of his latest gems: first baseman Frazier Hall, a two-time SWAC player of the year in 2010 and 2011, and a little-known pitcher from Puerto Rico, Jose De Leon, who blossomed from a late-round MLB draft pick in 2013 into one of the top prospects in the game.



The headliner is clearly second baseman Rickie Weeks, who in 2003 was named college baseball’s top player and drafted No. 2 overall by the Milwaukee Brewers, eventually becoming an All-Star.

Weeks — along with shortstop Fernando Puebla, third baseman Antoin Gray and pitcher Dewon Day — powered Cador’s best team, the 2003 squad that went 47-7 and won an NCAA tournament game.

Weeks caps a trio of three of the best players Cador coached, after second baseman Michael Woods (the 32nd pick in the 2001 draft) and outfielder Fred Lewis (the 66th pick in the 2002 draft).

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Bethune-Cookman eliminates Marist, 4-2 in NCAAs

GAINESVILLE, Florida  –  Tyler Norris threw a complete game and Bethune-Cookman found its hitting on Saturday afternoon as the Wildcats defeated Marist, 4-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA Gainesville [Fla.] Regional at McKethan Stadium. For the Wildcats, the win was their third ever in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. For Head Coach Jason Beverlin, it was his second postseason NCAA win with the Wildcats – the first for the program since 2014 [vs. Columbia in Coral Gables, Fla.].

Bethune-Cookman junior right-hander Tyler Norris settled down quickly after a rocky top-half of the first inning, as Marist (32-23) got to the Coral Springs, Florida native for a run to start off the game.

Shortstop Nate Sterijevski's single through the left side in the bottom of the first gave BCU the lead – one in which the Wildcats would not relinquish, scoring Jameel Edney and Danny Rodriguez as the bases were loaded for the Wildcats.

That vaulted Bethune-Cookman (34-24) ahead, 2-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, junior third baseman Jameel Edney powered up for his fifth home run of the year, lifting a two-out solo shot clear the wall in left.

That allowed BCU the 3-1 lead after five innings complete.

The Wildcats allowed themselves some breathing room in the bottom of the seventh, stretching the lead at 4-1.

Adonis Lao reached out and smacked a run-scoring double down the line in left to plate Josten Heron with one out.

Marist brought a run back in the top of the eighth inning as shortstop Randy Tavares got to Norris with a one-out solo homer to left field brining Marist to within 4-2.

In the end, it was All-MEAC performer Norris settling down to collect the final two outs of the game, including his seventh strikeout of the day.

Norris collected the win to move to 9-1 on the year. He worked a complete nine inning for the Wildcats, becoming the first nine-inning complete-game performer since Alex Seibold versus North Carolina A&T (March 26, 2016). He allowed just the two runs on six hits, picking up seven strikeouts and walking a pair.

The loss went to Marist left-hander Charlie Jerla to drop him at 9-2 for the season. He worked 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits, walking three and striking out four.

The offense for BCU was powered by six players with a hit each, including the homer from Edney, as well as the two-run scoring single from Sterijevski. Lao also supplied the RBI hit for the Maroon and Gold.

Bethune-Cookman now faces the loser of Saturday's evening contest between USF and No. 3 national seed Florida on Sunday at noon. The game was moved up to noon due to impending bad weather moving into the Gainesville area.

Follow Bethune-Cookman Baseball on Twitter (@BCUDiamondCats) for all of the latest news and updates. For all Bethune-Cookman Athletics news, follow us on Twitter (@BCUathletics), Instagram (@BCUathletics), Snapchat (@BCUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/BCUathletics).

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Southern officially announces Roger Cador's retirement, opens search for new baseball coach

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- It was 11,991 days since the Southern baseball program was last led by someone other than Roger Cador.

That streak officially came to an end Friday, when Cador and athletic director Roman Banks held a news conference in the lobby of the F.G. Clark Activity Center to announce the retirement of one of the most influential figures in not only Southern history, but the game of baseball.



But there was nothing sad or mournful about the event. Cador’s trademark over the last 33 years has been his charisma and personality, which was on full display as he declared his departure from his life’s work.

“This has been an amazing time to be here today and let you know it’s coming to an end. I’m going home,” Cador said. “And I’m going home in the most wonderful way. After so many years of having so many wonderful relationships… It’s been one hell of a run for me to experience coaching these guys.”

While Cador is stepping away from coaching, he won’t leave Southern athletics entirely.

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Florida high court to hear FAMU hazing appeal

Dante Martin is serving a seven-year prison sentence for the hazing death of a drum major

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- The Florida Supreme Court will take up the appeal of Dante Martin, a former Florida A&M University Marching 100 band member convicted in the hazing death of Robert Champion six years ago.

Martin filed a petition for review to the state’s highest court in February, arguing that Florida’s hazing statute is overly broad and criminalizes conduct that, although brutal, is nonetheless protected by the federal constitution.

“This statute renders illegal a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct that is, notably, openly discussed, critiqued, promoted, advertised and practiced by students statewide,” the petition said.

The statute “affects each and every student of the State of Florida’s public schooling system, from kindergarten to the graduate level,” the petition said. “The statute’s chilling effect on the exercise of constitutional rights is substantial.”

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