The Birmingham-Southern baseball team may provide the best college sports story of the spring with its postseason run to the Division III College World Series.
As the No. 7 seed Panthers prepare to play No. 2 Salve Regina on Friday, Birmingham-Southern College is closing permanently due to financial issues. The school’s baseball team outlasts the institution itself while achieving an unlikely series of successes, a development that draws national headlines.
Coach Jan Weisberg was interviewed on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” earlier this week. A documentary crew began following the Panthers during the super regional and the production has evolved into a chronicle of the team’s College World Series. As AL.com’s Joseph Goodman wrote, Tuesday’s practice was like a TV show with all the equipment gathered on the field.
Fans locally and nationally are inspired to help the team in this unique situation. A GoFundMe account for the team raised more than $100,000 on Tuesday. The money will support the team during the College World Series, and whatever is left after funding travel expenses (and championship rings) will go to the coaching staff.
One of the subplots adding to the lore of Birmingham-Southern’s postseason run is the team dealing with a norovirus strain during last weekend’s super regional sweep of Denison. Nine or 10 players were sick with what was initially thought to be food poisoning, three others fell ill after Saturday’s clincher and one even had to go to hospital. A few players continue to get sick as the Panthers begin the World Series in Eastlake, Ohio.
Before learning the school would close, Birmingham-Southern had a 13-10 record and lost nine of its past 10 games. Since the players found out this would be their final season at the small private liberal arts college (enrollment 1,300), the Panthers have gone 19-4 and received an at-large bid to the Division III national tournament.
The story continues on Friday, May 31 at 4:45 PM ET.
