Southern, LSU open Urban Invitational with wins

MLB Network has live coverage of tourney's seventh edition through Sunday

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana --  The seventh annual Urban Invitational got underway on Friday night with two games at separate Louisiana locations. Southern University began its season with a 7-5 victory over rival Grambling State, and Louisiana State University took a 2-0 win over the University of New Orleans.

Southern, which has played in every edition of the Urban Invitational, got to host a game in the tourney for the first time Friday. The tourney was designed to highlight baseball programs at historically black colleges and universities, and few have been better than Southern.

Southern, coached by Roger Cador for the last three decades, has won 14 Southwestern Athletic Conference championships and has advanced to the NCAA tournament eight times. Cador's team played crisply on Friday, and he said he was pleased to have the game on his home turf.

"We played our old nemesis, Grambling, and we were able to win, so I guess that's the good thing," said Cador when reached by phone. "Anytime you play on TV is good, and the city of New Orleans, specifically, is beginning to get more and more African-American kids playing baseball. We have some really good athletes in New Orleans, so maybe we'll be able to get some of them."

Southern's current roster has just 10 players from Louisiana, which is an indicator of the program's ability to recruit nationwide. But with the advent of the new Urban Youth Academy in New Orleans, Cador knows that the environment for local recruiting can only improve.

CONTINUE READING