The Urban Invitational, the annual, round-robin collegiate baseball tournament designed to give Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and their baseball programs national exposure, is relocating to Houston, Texas and will feature five HBCUs – the most-ever in the tournament’s five-year history.
The Houston Astros MLB Urban Youth Academy at Sylvester Turner Park will be the primary site of the tournament on Friday, February 17th and Sunday, February 19th, while the games on Saturday, February 18th will be played at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros. Two of those contests will air live on MLB Network and MLB.com.
Alabama State University (Montgomery, Alabama), Grambling State University (Grambling, Louisiana), Southern University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), Prairie View A&M University (Prairie View, Texas) and Texas Southern University (Houston, Texas) will all participate in the Urban Invitational along with NCAA Division-I school University of California, Irvine.
“We are thrilled to be working with the Houston Astros in bringing these six outstanding programs to Houston for this year’s Urban Invitational,” said Jimmie Lee Solomon, Executive Vice President, Baseball Development, Major League Baseball.
“Through this event, Major League Baseball strives to bring much needed exposure to these individual institutions and attention to collegiate baseball programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Additionally, we are very pleased to give local high school students the opportunity to learn more about higher education directly from the more than 20 colleges and universities at the college fair. This will be a great experience for all involved, especially these young men playing in a beautiful ballpark such as Minute Maid Park.”
Article referenced from MLB.com
