The Andrew Dawson Classic baseball tournament sponsored by Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that the scheduled event in New Orleans, Louisiana from Friday, February 19 through Sunday, February 21, has been cancelled.
A large winter storm dropped heavy snow across the nation in unexpected parts of the country where many HBCU Baseball programs reside. Multiple winter storms are bringing snow, ice and dangerously cold temperatures to many parts of the country.
Due to the extreme weather affecting the country and the resulting inability of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) baseball programs to safely travel to the MLB Academy in New Orleans this weekend, the SWAC along with Major League Baseball officially announced the event will not be rescheduled.
SWAC schools Prairie View A&M, Alcorn State, Jackson State, Alabama A&M, Grambling State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Alabama State were slated to play. It’s disappointing that the tournaments cannot be completed, but the priority is the safety of student-athletes, coaches, communities and officials. Most campuses are shut down until the storm subsides.
The 2021 Classic was to mark the eight straight year that New Orleans has hosted the tournament, the most in the tournament’s 14-year history.
Damn. Between COVID-19 and or the weather, this has been a horrible winter.