Birmingham-Southern baseball playing as the team of destiny in DIII College World Series

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – Not done yet. The Birmingham-Southern College baseball team is still dancing in the postseason and will take their place in the DIII College World Series in East Lake, Ohio, beginning on Friday, the same day the school is set to close.

It’s a story that has captivated the entire country with all eyes on this program — literally, a film crew is following the team the remainder of the season. The team is five wins away from doing something incredible. In the program’s final season, the Panthers can win the whole thing for the very first time in Division III.

The tournament features a double elimination format with the Panthers taking on Salve Regina in game one. There’s certainly a feeling around the program like this is a team of destiny to have that Cinderella type of ending with a national trophy in hand. If you remember in 2019, Birmingham-Southern was in the championship game and lost to Chapman. Here they are on the road to be in that spot again with it being the program’s last dance.

“Going into the postseason, there’s two options that I give them, right?” Birmingham-Southern head baseball coach Jan Weisberg said. “It’s win the whole thing or just have no regrets. And we might go 0-2 this weekend, I don’t think we will, but I have zero regrets about what they’ve done. They have no regrets.”

Weisberg added that the team doesn’t shy away from that. There have even been previous teams the Panthers have played, coaches, plenty of others in the baseball community that have reached out, telling the Panthers to bring it home.

There’s even a GoFundMe page for the team to help with traveling costs and (potentially) championship rings. The page has raised close to $90,000 and counting and can be found here.

“Some kids that I grew up playing baseball with texted me, like ‘Hey man, congrats! Like I see your team’s doing really well. I’m rooting for you,’” Birmingham-Southern pitcher Hansen McCown said. “I’ve had random people reach out to me on Twitter, like ‘Hey, I love in Ohio, I want to come out to some of the games. Like, when are y’all playing?’ I think that’s really cool.”

You think about the emotions, the anxiety of what comes next, but this team keeps winning games. Weisberg mentioned if you were putting a masterclass on a story about toughness that this year’s Birmingham-Southern baseball team embodies that.

All of this attention fuels Birmingham-Southern to win even more.

“To come from having a very mediocre season to being one of the last eight teams left in the country is unbelievable,” Birmingham-Southern infielder Andrew Dutton said. “And, you know, it just shows that we’re playing for each other.”

First pitch between Salve Regina and Birmingham-Southern is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. CST on Friday, May 31.

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