Their school is about to close. Now, Birmingham-Southern heads to College World Series.
School may be shutting down for good at Birmingham-Southern in Alabama, but its baseball team remains alive. With the college set to officially close on Friday, the baseball team will spend that day playing in the NCAA Division III Men's College World Series.
Birmingham-Southern defeated Denison University, 7-6, on Saturday to punch its ticket to the College World Series for the first time since 2019 and continue a magical season that has the team chasing a national championship before they all part their separate ways.
On March 26, Birmingham-Southern announced it would cease operations on May 31 after years of financial turmoil. The college, which opened in 1918 as a result of two institutions founded in the 1800s merging, said it failed to receive additional funding from the state government and the college "does not have the resources to continue." Even with the closure, the school decided that normal operations, including athletics, would continue through the end of the school year.
How did Birmingham-Southern keep baseball season alive?
The day the school announced its ending, the baseball team was 13-10 and things appeared like once the regular season ended, it be the end of Panthers baseball.
But the team suddenly got hot. It finished the regular season on a 14-2 run, including a nine-game winning streak. The Panthers were quickly eliminated in the SAA baseball tournament, but thanks to a strong strength of schedule, their season was kept alive when they made the NCAA tournament as a No. 3 seed in the Transylvania Regional.
Birmingham-Southern crushed the regional; it won the opening game 21-7 and cruised to victories in the next two games. The Panthers were set to face one of the best teams in the country in Denison in the super regionals.
In Game 1, the Panthers handily defeated Denison 10-1, and on Saturday, held onto an early lead to beat Denison again and clinch the spot in the Men's College World Series.
Now, Birmingham-Southern will play in the College World Series the same day its school closes. The Panthers' opening game will be at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio on Friday, and the team will hope to continue playing for a school that will no longer exist. And the athletic department knows the baseball team isn't done yet.
"Campus may be closing but the story is still to be written," it said on social media.
The athletic department is taking donations through GoFundMe, which will be used "for travel expenses and championship rings. Any remaining funds will go to BSC baseball staff to help in their next steps."