Birmingham-Southern College to shut down as its baseball team advances to College World Series

Birmingham-Southern College is closing down but its baseball team is outliving it by heading to the Division III College Baseball World Series.

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Birmingham-Southern College beat Denison University on Saturday in Granville, Ohio, according to AL.com . They won 7-6, The Athletic reported.

“We are absolutely thrilled to be celebrating a super regional win and punching a ticket to the World Series,” Birmingham-Southern College athletic director Kyndall Waters said in a statement obtained by The Athletic.

During the game on Saturday, there were also some health issues with the players. Waters said that about nine of the players had very bad food poisoning including two that had to be hospitalized.

“I’m so incredibly proud of our team and our coaching staff who have had all the right words to lift up the student-athletes as they have faced adversity after adversity,” Waters said, according to The Athletic. “We cannot overstate our appreciation for the community that has supported us along the way and our new-found community, the entire country, for joining us on this final historic journey.”

Birmingham-Southern College announced it would be closing down on March 26 with May 31 being its last day, according to USA Today . The reason its closing is due to financial issues, AL.com reported.

The college has been operating for about 168 years as a liberal arts school, according to The Washington Post. It dates back to 1856 when Southern University was founded. According to The Associated Press , that school and Birmingham College merged in 1918 and became Birmingham-Southern.

The school over the last few weeks has gotten a lot of national media attention due to its historic run this season there is a documentary coming together about the team, WBRC reported.

“We have a lot of media coverage this week. We actually have a production crew that’s following this final chapter of our story because they thought it was so intriguing, and it’s just shining a light on something that’s positive that we need,” said Birmingham-Southern head coach Jan Weisberg, according to the news outlet. “I think it highlights the value in sports and what it can bring out and I think when people see these young men flourishing, not just surviving, in times of uncertainty and a burden on their shoulders, I think it’s really refreshing and we welcome it and we thank the people for it.”

The College World Series starts in Eastlake, Ohio, on the same day the school is closing down, WVTM reported.