Birmingham-Southern baseball team flooded with funds for World Series trip as school prepares to close

CLEVELAND (AP) — The soon-to-be-defunct baseball team has a growing fan base.

Birmingham-Southern’s inspiring and unexpected journey won some hearts.

The Panthers, who have kept their season alive as their school is on the verge of closing for good on Friday, drew interest with supporters raising more than $100,000 to enhance their trip to the Division III World Series.

As of Tuesday afternoon, a GoFundMe page had surpassed its initial goal of $100,000 and is still growing.

Trey Hines, the Birmingham, Ala.-based school’s sports information director for at least a few days, said the support has been overwhelming.

“It was crazy,” Hines said over the phone.

Hines said before leaving for Cleveland on Wednesday, the team is having a throwback party and being honored before the first pitch of Tuesday night’s game against the Birmingham Barons.

Birmingham-Southern advanced to the World Series in Eastlake, Ohio, on Saturday despite the team being flattened by food poisoning, with two players hospitalized and others receiving intravenous fluids behind the dugout during the win over Denison.

The NCAA pays their travel expenses to get to Ohio and home, but the added money can go toward other expenses, such as rings to honor the Panthers who made it out of the Super Regional. They defeated Denison 10–1 on Friday and then won 7–6 on Saturday despite widespread illness.

On Friday, Birmingham-Southern will play on the same day the private liberal arts college, founded in 1856, is closing due to financial problems. Unable to secure a $30 million loan, school officials voted in March to close.

The Panthers have turned it around since then — going 18-4 since the decision — and if they keep winning, they’ll be the only thing keeping Birmingham-Southern in existence.

They will open the double-elimination tournament — hosted by the Lake County Captains, one of the minor league affiliates of the Cleveland Guardians — against the No. 2 Salve Regina (Rhode Island) Friday.

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AP College Sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

Tom Withers, The Associated Press