Hendrick leaves SCSU for South Florida

Photo: Coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough have the "for hire" sign out for three great assistant coaches.

For the third time in four years, South Carolina State will be seeking a new defensive coordinator.
Defensive coordinator John Hendrick, who arrived at SCSU following a five-year stint as Benedict head football coach, has been hired as the new defensive tackles coach at South Florida. The University of Pittsburgh graduate, who was a former All-Big East Defensive Lineman, joins a fledgling Football Bowl Subdivision program which made great strides last season in reaching as high as number two in the Bowl Championship Series rankings.

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON THE BLOG TITLE.

SCSU set to battle FAMU, men's game to be televised on ESPNU

Tallahassee, Fl. -- The South Carolina State men's and women's basketball team will play Florida A&M in a pivotal Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference contest, with the women's game beginning at 5 p.m. The men's contest will be televised live on ESPNU at 8 p.m.

SC State men's (11-18, 7-8) pulled out an emotional victory over Bethune-Cookman 85-81 in overtime on Saturday, while the Lady Bulldogs (11-15, 8-7) suffered a heartbreaking 54-53 loss to the Lady Wildcats.

The Rattlers (12-16, 7-7) on a three-game winning streak will be looking for their fourth straight victory after a 68-61 win over Winston-Salem State on Saturday. The Lady Rattlers (12-15, 2-12) won an impressive 59-32 routing over the Lady Rams of Winston-Salem State.

CONTINUE READING BY CLICKING ON THE BLOG TITLE.

Urban Invitational comes to a close

COMPTON, Calif. -- The first MLB Urban Invitational has now come to a close, but the three-day event at USC's Dedeaux Field, UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium, and the MLB Urban Youth Academy created such goodwill and positive feedback from everyone involved, there is little doubt that this will set the stage for more and bigger invitationals in the coming years.

"It has been a tremendous opportunity to showcase the historical black colleges and universities [HBCUs] and a chance for the commissioner's initiative on African-Americans participation in baseball to be even further enhanced," said Major League Baseball Executive Vice President of Operations Jimmie Lee Solomon.

"What really struck me though is we had over 3,500 people here at the academy on Saturday night. People stayed here past midnight, cheering, watching the games -- we had kids running around and the crowd was extremely diverse. You can't tell me that the African-American population is not interested in our game."

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON THE BLOG TITLE.

What a positive way to kick off the baseball season for Bethune Cookman and Southern University. Once again you proved that HBCUs can compete successfully in Division I Baseball. Those two losses by BCU to USC and UCLA 2-0 were great pitching duels. And how 'bout that SU slugfest with USC that ended 13-9?

The `Cats next test will be Georgia Southern on Tues, Mar. 4 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach. Southern University will play Tulane on Tuesday.

-beepbeep

BCU Baseball Bounces Back with 10-4 Win over Southern University

Photo: Bethune Cookman University's Eric Thomas, 5-11/185 junior P/OF, Daytona Beach CC/Bucholz H.S., Gainesville, FL

Drew Clark and Justin Hoyte hit first collegiate career homeruns

Compton, Calif. - Bethune-Cookman University bounced back on Sunday afternoon with an emphatic 10-4 win over Southern University in the final game of the inaugural MLB Urban Invitational Tournament held at the Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif.

Everyone knew whenever the bats joined the outstanding pitching of the Bethune-Cookman staff, and then the Wildcats would certainly be the most dangerous team in Black College Baseball. That point was made evident on Sunday afternoon as the Southern Jaguars and Bethune-Cookman Wildcats met for the first time in school history.

With controversy surrounding the game of the century between these two storied programs for years, the game was finally put on the field for the entire HBCU world to see Sunday. The problem is that it took place almost 3,000 miles away from B-CU, and about 2,000 miles from Southern's home site of Baton Rouge, La.

B-CU starting pitcher Eric Thomas was nearly flawless for the second consecutive week as he mowed down the hot-hitting Southern (0-4) bats. The hard-throwing right-hander from Gainesville, Fla. was touched just twice on the day and allowed one earned run. He struck-out six batters and was almost untouchable with the awesome B-CU defense right behind him whenever he got himself into trouble with six walks issued on the day in unusual fashion.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY AND VIEW GAME STATS BY CLICKING ON BLOG TITLE.

Atkins, Alabama A&M offense solid

Bulldogs' QB takes unit to five TDs in scrimmage

Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones has been bragging about Kevin Atkins since spring practice started more than a week ago. Jones has said Atkins looks more like a veteran than a seldom-used redshirt sophomore. That was the case Saturday as Atkins looked sharp in A&M's first scrimmage of the spring. He completed 12-of-19 passes for 172 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in the nearly 90-play scrimmage at Louis Crews Stadium.

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON THE BLOG TITLE.

Alabama State rallies to beat Texas Southern

HOUSTON, TX -- Brandon Gordon and Brandon Brooks scored 13 points apiece to help Alabama State come from behind to beat Texas Southern 72-67 on Saturday night.

Joel Bosh and Andrew Hayles each added 12 points for the Hornets (16-19, 12-3 SWAC). Gordon hauled down eight rebounds while Brooks tallied five assists.

Anthony Ike scored 20 points to lead Texas Southern (7-12, 6-9). David Burrell added 14, while Sollie Norwood scored 13 and Damian Henderson had 11.

The Hornets outrebounded the Tigers 45-24.

Texas Southern led 42-35 at the break.

Hampton Lady Pirates defeat rival Norfolk State, 76-52

Photo: Chinyere Ukoh scored a double/double in 18 minutes of action scoring 17 points/11 rebounds. The 6-3 junior forward is from Woodbridge H.S., Woodbridge, VA.

HAMPTON, Va. – In the 74th meeting between the Hampton University Lady Pirates and the Lady Spartans of Norfolk State University, the Lady Pirates defeated NSU 82-61 in Hampton’s Convocation Center on Saturday night.

The Lady Pirates, 14-12 overall and 7-6 in the MEAC, led the Spartans, 5-19 overall and 1-12 in the MEAC, by 26 at the half, 54-28.

“We had great momentum heading into halftime and I told the girls that in the second half we had to come out and play with that same intensity,” said HU head coach Walter Mebane.

The Lady Pirates, who lead the all-time series against the Spartans 40-33, went on 19-0 run after spotting NSU a 3-0 lead at the outset of the game, taking a 19-3 lead with 16:14 to play on a Mikki Clayton jumper. But the Lady Spartans would battle back with a 7-0 run of their own to narrow their deficit to 19-10 with 14:08 on the clock. That was about as close as NSU would get after that.

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE AND BOX STATS BY CLICKING ON BLOG TITLE.