This is an opinion column.
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The Birmingham-Southern baseball team is driving to its super regional this week, and that seems a little odd until you really think about it.
The penny-pinching NCAA gave Birmingham-Southern the option of flying commercial out of Atlanta, but that just didn’t seem right. The team would have had to take three separate flights, says coach Jan Weisberg. When a group of guys wants every final hour together to last as long as possible, they take the bus from Birmingham to Ohio.
They say that sports journalists aren’t supposed to be fans of the teams they cover. I’m breaking the rules this time, though.
What does it matter anyway? The school is closing down in less than two weeks. It will only exist in the hearts of its alums after May 31.
The shuttering of Birmingham-Southern College is almost here. There’s just one more order of business, and that’s cheer for the baseball team.
Birmingham-Southern (29-14) was a longshot to make the Division-III NCAA tournament this year, but the Panthers have made the most of their at-large bid. BSC won its regional over the weekend and now play in a super regional on Friday against Denison University in Granville, Ohio. Denison (42-6) is the favorite, but BSC is playing for keeps.
“We’re still fighting,” said Jacob Zito, the team’s left-fielder.
This postseason run by Birmingham-Southern College represents one of the last organized endeavors of a school that has been in operation since 1856. BSC was one of the most distinguished schools in the Deep South. When it goes, a piece of Birmingham goes with it.
As for the baseball team, no one can say it didn’t go out swinging.
I found Zito in the batting cages on Monday. He was getting some cuts off the tee, fine-tuning his swing for the biggest week of his baseball career. Zito homered in the regional victory against Spalding. He says this Birmingham-Southern team feels like family. Later during an interview, the team’s coach mentions that Zito’s mother passed away his senior year of high school.
“These guys have had a tremendous weight for really two years now,” Weisberg said. “Last year I was so proud of them because we were the No.1 team in the country for most of the year, but really this year with all the range of emotions they’ve had to juggle — one thing I’ve learned through this process is finality, even in a negative sense, is better than uncertainty and the anxiety it can produce.”
The end of Birmingham-Southern came like a tragedy in five parts. The school learned it would have to close its doors without financial support a few years ago. The city and state raised money to help, but then politics scuttled the deal. Through it all, Weisberg and assistant coach JD Hulse somehow managed to keep their baseball team among the best D-III programs in the country.
BSC was even ranked No.1 for seven weeks last season.
How does a coaching staff recruit players when the school might close? It wasn’t easy, but Weisberg and Hulse managed to bring in 12 freshmen for what would turn out to be the final year of the school. While the team was ranked No.1, Weisberg says he was helping his recruits connect with coaches from other teams in case the worst happened and BSC had to close.
And Division-I coaches think they have it hard.
“We all hoped for the best and expected the worst,” Zito said. “Our coaches did a good job of being transparent about everything.”
Said Weisberg: “Once we found out that news, and it was actually something we were dealing with and not a possibility of something we hoped didn’t come but maybe we think is going to come, at that point, baseball was their release and that was really fun to see.”
Players stuck together through it all. BSC hit a lull during the middle of the regular season, but then snapped off 17 wins over 21 games. That gave the team enough of a resúmé for the NCAA selection committee to extend a tournament bid.
“To see the selection show reaction, after carrying such a negative weight for two years, that was cool to see,” Weisberg said.
During our interview, Weisberg pointed out that this is Birmingham-Southern’s third super regional in four years. He wants everyone to know that BSC baseball isn’t just some feel-good story. A short video clip of BSC’s regional victory went viral on social media, and the attention since then has been a little overwhelming. Weisberg says the producers of the TV show “Two-A-Days” want to make a documentary.
If BSC advances past Denison, then the Panthers could play in the D-III World Series after BSC has officially closed. For the players on the team and the BSC grads who have followed everything, making it this far in the tournament will always be a lasting source of pride.
Considering the circ*mstances, a group of thoughtful BSC alums raised enough money for the Panthers to do this thing right. The bus is stopping in Louisville on the way to Ohio. A big steak dinner at a fancy restaurant is the plan.
“We’re going to treat them like Big Leaguers,” Weisberg said.
And then they’ll play for Birmingham-Southern like there’s no tomorrow.
SOUND OFF
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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”
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