After being derailed by the pandemic last season, collegiate baseball is finally back.
In this past weekend’s games there was plenty of action featuring home runs, outstanding defensive plays, lights-out pitching, extra base hits and a pitching gem in a losing effort.
Nearly one year after the health crisis, college baseball returned for the first time with many uncertainties.
By now, we have become used to no fans in the stands but more teams are streaming their games live.
The pandemic caused opening-season postponements and cancellations that will extend to the first week of March.
Winter snow storms in southern states led to the cancellation of the annual MLB Andre Dawson Classic showdown which was going to feature teams from the Southwest athletic Conference (SWAC). It was scheduled to be played in New Orleans and be hosted by the University of New Orleans Privateers.
Instead, the Privateers hosted a three-game series with Southern University who had been scheduled to take part in the Classic.
Three teams ranked in HBCU baseball’s top 10 (Alcorn State, Grambling State and Prairie View A&M) pushed back the start of their seasons.
Head coach Jim Koerner has North Carolina Central off to a perfect start. The Eagles opened the season 3-0 sweeping Army for its first opening-weekend sweep in program history.
North Carolina A&T got a standout performance from outfielder Justin Rodriguez whose home run helped the Aggies split a doubleheader against the College of Charleston in the series finale.
Southern University’s Chris Crenshaw collected his first collegiate win as a head coach in an opening-weekend doubleheader split against the University of New Orleans. The Jaguars won game two by the score of 4-3 for its first win of the season.
Three of HBCU Baseball ranked teams won their games by one run. NCA&T, 4-3 over College of Charleston, North Carolina Central, 5-4 against Army and Southern’s 4-3 win over New Orleans.