Soon-to-be-defunct Birmingham-Southern baseball is getting national attention ahead of the DIII College World Series

The Birmingham-Southern baseball team offers perhaps the best college sports story of the spring with its postseason run to the Division III College World Series.

As the No. 7-seeded Panthers prepare to play No. 2 Salve Regina on Friday, Birmingham-Southern College is closing for good due to financial struggles. The school’s baseball team, which outlives the institution itself while driving improbable success, is a development that attracts national headlines.

Coach Jan Weisberg was interviewed on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” earlier this week. A documentary crew began following the Panthers during the super regional, and production ramped up to chronicle the team’s College World Series run. As AL.com’s Joseph Goodman wrote, Tuesday’s practice looked like a TV show with all the equipment gathered on the field.

Fans locally and nationally were inspired to help the team amid its unique situation. A GoFundMe account set up for the team has raised more than $100,000 as of Thursday. The money will support the team during the College World Series, and whatever is left after funding travel expenses (and championship rings) will go to the coaching staff.

Among the subplots that add to Birmingham-Southern’s postseason lore is the team dealing with a strain of norovirus during last weekend’s super regional at Denison. Nine or 10 players fell ill with what was initially thought to be food poisoning, three more fell ill after Saturday’s clincher and one even had to go to the hospital. Several players are still getting sick as the Panthers begin World Series play in Eastlake, Ohio.

Before learning the school would close, Birmingham-Southern had a 13-10 record and lost nine of its last 10 games. Since the players learned this would be their last season at the small private liberal arts college (enrollment 1,300), the Panthers have gone 19–4 and received an at-large bid to the Division III national tournament.

The story continues Friday at 4:45 pm ET.