Rain can't dampen Urban Invitational festivities

COMPTON, Calif. -- Rain was the only thing that could get in the way of Saturday's marquee doubleheader on the second day of the fourth annual Urban Invitational presented by the U.S. Army at the MLB Urban Youth Academy.

Luckily, despite forecasts calling for heavy precipitation, the rain didn't come until the eighth inning of the second game and the day's events carried on mostly as planned with several former big leaguers in attendance to help mark the biggest day of the three-day tournament that aims to spotlight Historically Black Colleges and Universities by giving them national exposure.

That national exposure was certainly evident, as both of the day's games were aired live by MLB Network and MLB.com with Greg Amsinger and Harold Reynolds calling the action. And plenty of former stars were there to take part in the event such as...

Video: MLB Network wraps up day at Urban Invitational

Urban Invitational kicks off in SoCal

COMPTON, Calif. -- Cloudy skies carrying the threat of rare Southern California rain couldn't put a damper on the first day of the fourth annual Urban Invitational presented by the U.S. Army at the MLB Urban Youth Academy on Friday.

The three-day tournament, which helps spotlight Historically Black Colleges and Universities by giving them national exposure, got off to a great start even though both opening games began at 1 p.m. PT -- five hours ahead of schedule -- to avoid evening rainfall.

SCOREBOARD
Friday
Grambling State 5, Bethune Cookman 3
UC Irvine 7, Southern 1

Saturday
UC Irvine 9, Bethune Cookman 3
Grambling State 8, Southern 4

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Grambling excited for its first Urban Invitational

James Cooper isn't even 30 years old, and he has only been the head baseball coach at Grambling State University for one full season. But he has already experienced some of the difficulties that come with trying to recruit the best baseball talent to a small college.

Twice he has seen an athlete essentially commit to his program, only to be spurned. One of those players went instead to Louisiana State, which guaranteed the recruit a walk-on spot.

And he has seen potential recruits turn down baseball for basketball and football elsewhere. That has happened at least four times.

Grambling State University Head Baseball Coach James Cooper

URBAN INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
Date  Time   Game
2/25 6:30 p.m. Southern vs. UC Irvine UC Irvine
2/25 6 p.m. B-CU vs. Grambling UYA
2/26 1 p.m. UC Irvine v.s B-CU* UYA
2/26 5 p.m. Grambling vs. Southern* UYA
2/27 1:05 p.m. Grambling vs. UC Irvine UC Irvine
2/27 1 p.m. Southern vs. B-CU UYA
* Broadcast on MLB Network
All times PT

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