College Baseball: Birmingham-Southern Plays On, While The School Itself Is Eliminated.

Division III Baseball teams don’t make National Headlines much. Birmingham-Southern has burst through that bubble this season, going 30-14, clinching a spot in the DIII Super Regionals, starting tomorrow (May 24th). If their season ends during the DIII College World Series (May 31-June 6), some players may not have a dorm to go back to. Here’s why:

Birmingham-Southern Decides To Close

Back in March, the school’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the school, that has been around for 168 years, for good on May 31st. Their reasoning adding up to “financial instability”. This wasn’t a “fastball to the face” or “blindside” situation. The school was very close to shutting it’s doors back in October, after being denied a loan. Luckily, emergency funding was approved in December. But barely 6 months later, no more loans or funding could be acquired.

Closing Used As Motivation

According to Birmingham-Southern Coach Jan Weisberg this had been “something we had faced over the last two years”. While that might be the case, Weisberg also said “It was a gut punch”. Not just to him but the whole team. They got the news during Spring Break, when their record sat at 13-10. The players rallied together, using the news as a form of motivation to turn their season around. A social media hashtag was created out of it as well, #notdoneyet became a rallying cry for the Panthers.

The school sits at fourth on the all-time DIII wins list, yet has never won it all. The team, the media and the country as a whole hope that this run ends in their first ever National Championship.