African-Americans in NCAA baseball few and far between

Photo: Southern University head baseball coach Roger Candor.

It isn't a myth or an overstatement to say that the hardest thing to see in college baseball is an African-American ballplayer. The decline almost makes a triple play look common.

In 2007, less than seven percent of all NCAA Division I baseball players were African-American, and the numbers are expected to decline for 2008. The comparisons to basketball, where 57 percent of D-I players were African-American, and football (43 percent) are mind-boggling.

There are a grand total of seven African-American players at the five pre-eminent college baseball teams in Southern California - two at Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State, and one each at USC, UCLA and Pepperdine. Considering UCLA gave us Jackie Robinson, USC is located in the inner-city and Long Beach has a long history of producing outstanding African-American athletes, it's a regrettable local statistic.

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Black colleges facing pivotal time

Photo: BCU head baseball coach Mervyl Melendez.

Mervyl Melendez, the baseball coach at Bethune-Cookman University, respects his school's distinguished tradition within the ranks of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He tries every year to recruit African American players to the private liberal arts school, which has about 3,000 students at its Daytona Beach, Fla., campus.

"We offered, in November, seven African American kids scholarships. All but one rejected that offer and signed with different universities," he said. "After we were rejected we got kids from Puerto Rico. We recruited six, and all six said yes." And so Bethune-Cookman, whose student body is more than 91% black, fields a team in which African Americans are a minority, outnumbered by players from Melendez's native Puerto Rico.

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Urban Youth Academy hosting tourney

Bethune-Cookman, Southern University on display in SoCal

The Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy has become a true baseball gathering place, and that will become more evident when the academy hosts its first Urban Invitational Baseball Tournament this weekend in Compton, California.

Two historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Bethune-Cookman University (Daytona Beach, Fla.) and Southern University (Baton Rouge, La.), will face off against local powerhouses UCLA and USC. The Urban Invitational was created, in part, to showcase the many uses for the academy, but, more importantly to bring attention to the two universities visiting Southern California.

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New Grambling contract for Broadway would be longer, richer

GRAMBLING — Rod Broadway’s proposed new contract at Grambling State includes another year and a $14,000 increase in base pay for 2008, among other incentives.
The deal, up for approval by GSU’s oversight board during meetings held today in Lake Charles, followed interest in the first-year football coach from upper-classification Duke as well as fellow historically black college program Florida A&M.

His new agreement would begin at $170,000 then upgrade to $215,000 by 2011. It’s backdated to Feb. 7. Like most lower-division programs, there is no buyout clause: Broadway “may terminate this agreement by written notice at any time,” according to the contract.

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SWAC Women's Bowling Championship to air on ESPNU

College bowling returns to national television next week as Southern University and Alabama A&M University, two NCAA Division I programs, square off for the Southwestern Athletic Conference Women's Bowling Championship.

The championship match is scheduled to air on Wednesday, March 5 at 8 p.m. Eastern and replayed Thursday, March 6 at 7:30 a.m. Eastern. Check your local listings for time changes.

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Obama’s got game, says his brother-in-law the coach

I asked Craig Robinson to talk about the side of Barack Obama you don’t see in public. I figured he would know. Robinson is the brother of Obama’s wife, Michelle. He is 45 and coach of the Brown University basketball team. We were having coffee a few blocks from his office on Thayer Street.

He told me there is no different side.

“He’s really authentic,” said Robinson. “What you see is what you get.” He told me that wasn’t just a brother-in-law speaking.

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Craig Robinson profile: http://brownbears.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/robinson_craig00.html

Pitt Baseball Pummels Maryland Eastern Shore, 25-3

Princess Anne, Maryland - A last-minute schedule change brought the Pitt baseball team one of it's most successful days in the program's 69-year history. The Panthers were scheduled to travel to Chillicothe, Ohio this weekend for a three-game series with Youngstown State, but inclement weather conditions forced Pitt to make a quick schedule change. Instead of Ohio, the Panthers traveled to Maryland Eastern Shore for a weekend-series against the Hawks and Rhode Island.

In the opening game of the weekend, Pitt (2-2) rolled to a 25-3 win over host Maryland Eastern Shore (0-6) Friday afternoon. The win marked the 21st time in the program's history that the Panthers have scored 20 or more runs.

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The Hawks have no football team; maybe they need to drop baseball too. Dang...25-3!