Their school is about to close. Now, Birmingham-Southern is headed to the College World Series.

The school may be closing for good at Alabama’s Birmingham-Southern, but its baseball team lives on. With college set to officially close on Friday, the baseball team will spend the 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 in which the team is chasing a national championship before going all out.

On March 26, Birmingham-Southern announced that it would cease operations on May 31 after years of financial turmoil. The college, which opened in 1918 following the merger of two institutions in the 1800s, said it had failed to receive additional funding from the state government and that the college “does not have the resources to continue”. Even with the school closing, the school has decided that normal operations, including athletics, will continue through the end of the school year.

How did Birmingham-Southern keep its baseball season alive?

The day the school announced its end, the baseball team was 13-10 and it looked like once the regular season ended, it would be the end of Panthers baseball.

But his team suddenly got hot. He finished the regular season 14-2, including a nine-game winning streak. The Panthers were quickly eliminated in the SAA baseball tournament, but thanks to a strong schedule, their season was kept alive when they made the NCAA tournament as a No. 3 in the Regional of Transylvania.

Birmingham-South crushed the regional; won the opening game 21-7 and cruised to victories in the next two games. The Panthers would face one of the best teams in the country in Denison in the super regionals.

In Game 1, the Panthers easily defeated Denison 10-1, and on Saturday, they held on to an early lead to beat Denison again and clinch a spot in the Men’s College World Series.

Now, Birmingham-Southern will play in the College World Series on the same day school closes. The Panthers’ home opener is Friday at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio, 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.

“The campus may be closing, but the story is yet to be written,” he said on social media.

The athletic department is accepting donations through GoFundMe, which will be used “for travel expenses and championship rings. Any remaining funds will go to the BSC baseball staff to help them in their next steps.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Birmingham-Southern heads to College World Series as school closes