@CoachRyanKY
BIRMINGHAM, AL- The craziest story in baseball is not headed to Omaha in the coming weeks, it isn’t in Yankee Stadium either. As a matter of fact, you likely would not recognize any of the names on the roster. You likely have never seen them play. It’s Birmingham Southern College.
Eastlake, OH, host of the 2024 Division III College World Series welcomes competition beginning this Friday. One of the participants Birmingham Southern accomplished a formidable feat at any level of college baseball, they punched their ticket to the final round of play!
But wait….Birmingham Southern is not a school?
THAT’S RIGHT! (WELL ALMOST)
Birmingham Southern College is closing its doors for good. No more graduates of a once proud academic institution. An institution that will go by the way side, and be forgotten in the years to come by all except it’s alumni and their closest friends/family.
One thing that might keep them in the annals of people’s memory is the baseball team. For the first time in history, they could win a championship for a university that “doesn’t exist”.
How is this a Kentucky story?
Funny enough, the “Road to Eastlake” started for Birmingham Southern from the confines of Legends Field. Yes, the Legends Field that is the home of the Atlantic League’s Lexington Legends. Some of you know, some not, now you do…Legends Field also serves as the home diamond for the DIII Transylvania University Pioneers located just a few blocks away. Birmingham Southern won the Regional hosted by the Pioneers to move onto the DIII Super Regional.
I feel compelled to do my best Billy Mays and tell you this, “BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!”..
In Birmingham Southern’s Super Regional Victory over Denison University, they were short-handed due to illness. Not short-handed by just a player or two due to bumps and bruises sustained over a long baseball season. More like 1/3 of the team fell victim to food poisoning after some chicken alfredo made their stomachs “afraid-o”. Some of the players even showed up to the game with mobile IV’s after a trip to the emergency room the night before.
Talk about school pride.
The story of Birmingham Southern continues it’s cinematic like post-season as they head to Eastlake to close out their season, and their college. The DIII World Series will begin on Friday, AND Birmingham Southern College will close it’s doors for the last time on that day as well.
Bittersweet for all involved, but captivating to baseball fans everywhere.
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