Big 12 Cancels Spring Sports, Suspends Team Activities

The Big 12 has announced the cancelation of all conference and non-conference competitions for the remainder of the academic year.

Due to the on-going developments related to COVID-19 the Big 12 Conference announces tha conference and non-conference competitions are cancelled through the end of the academic year.

➡️ https://t.co/HMW72DXg0U.

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 13, 2020

“The announcement by the Big 12 to cancel the spring competition season is certainly disappointing but also is a necessity,” West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons said. “We must take all precautions to ensure the health and safety of the league’s Universities, student-athletes and communities. All team activities have also been suspended until March 29 and then will be re-evaluated by the Big 12. The events of the past week have brought much sadness to our student-athletes, coaches and fans, but we must do our part to keep everyone safe.”

This means West Virginia’s baseball, tennis, golf and track seasons are officially over. WVU baseball finishes the season with an 11-5 record, having defeated Liberty 7-0 on Wednesday.

“I’m really disappointed for our team, especially the seniors, but the health and safety of our kids takes precedence over baseball and always will,” head coach Randy Mazey said. “This is one of those tough parts of life that our players will have to learn how to get through. They will have each other, and we will help support them in any way we can.”

The Big 12 also announced that all team activities, organized or voluntary, will be suspended until at least March 29. On March 29 the situation will be re-evaluated. This will impact WVU’s spring football practices.

The Big 12 has made several changes to its athletics in response to the spread of the coronavirus in recent days. First, the conference was going to limit the number of fans permitted to attend the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments before canceling the tournaments entirely. Then the NCAA canceled all spring and fall championships.

West Virginia University had suspended all intercollegiate athletics through the end of March. This decision by the Big 12 officially ends intercollegiate athletics for the 2019-20 academic year.