The University Interscholastic League, which governs all activities between high schools in the state of Texas, including sports, announced this morning that all UIL activities between now and May 11 had been canceled due to threat from Swine Flu in that state.

The release from the UIL begins as follows:

On the recommendation of Dr. David Lakey, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, and in consultation with Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott, the University Interscholastic League is altering its schedule of events due to the outbreak of the swine flu in Texas. Effective immediately, all UIL interscholastic competition is suspended until May 11.

"The health and safety of our student activity participants is of the utmost importance," said UIL Executive Director Dr. Charles Breithaupt. "Taking every possible precaution to prevent the further spreading of this disease is an important contribution to the welfare of our great state, and altering the schedule of our events is a way to keep our participants safe."

It goes on to list a long menu of events that will be affected, including state academic competitions, band contests, regional track meets, state golf and tennis tournaments, and, of course, baseball.

The Texas high school baseball season has been underway for well over two months, so most of the scouting on the state’s top high school prospects has already been done. Most scouting directors and cross checkers have already got their looks at the state’s top players, such as LHP’s Matthew Purke and Colton Cain or OF’ers Everett Williams or Randel Grichuk.

The state playoffs are scheduled to begin on May 23, although the UIL release specifically says that events are fluid and all arrangements and dates are tentative. The state finals are scheduled for June 10-13.

A Texas area scout had the following comment upon hearing the news, “It’s going to complicate things, especially as it involves getting the playoffs set and setting schedules. There are a lot of district and bi-district games to be played before the state’s start. For us scouts, I guess it’s just college games and getting signability meetings hammered out earlier this year.”