He Birmingham-South The baseball team is providing arguably the best college sports story of the spring with its postseason run to the Division III College World Series.
As the No. 7 Panthers prepare to play No. 2 Salve Regina on Friday, Birmingham-Southern College will close permanently due to financial issues. The fact that the school’s baseball team has outlasted the institution itself while enjoying an improbable run of success is an event that has grabbed 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 grew to chronicle the team’s College World Series. As AL.com’s Joseph Goodman wroteTuesday’s practice looked like a television show with the entire team gathered on the field.
Fans locally and nationally have been inspired to help the team amid its unique situation. TO GoFundMe The account created for the team has raised more than $100,000 as of Tuesday and is currently nearly $7,000 above its goal. 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.
Among the subplots adding to Birmingham-Southern’s postseason story is the team dealing with a strain of norovirus during Denison’s super regional sweep last weekend. Nine or ten players suffered what was initially thought to be food poisoning, three more fell ill after Saturday’s decider and one even had to go to hospital. A couple of players are still getting sick as the Panthers begin the World Series in Eastlake, Ohio.
It is unknown how much, if any, of that story will be included in the documentary.
Before learning the school would close, Birmingham-Southern had a 13-10 record and lost nine of its last 10 games. Since the players found out this would be their final season at the small (enrolled 1,300) private liberal arts college, the Panthers have gone 19-4 and received an at-large bid to the Division III national tournament.
The story continues Friday, May 31 at 4:45 pm ET.
