EASTLAKE, Ohio – An unschooling team never stops.
Birmingham-Southern is still swinging.
Now playing despite school being closed for good, the Panthers kept their hopes of winning the national championship on Saturday night with a thrilling 9-7 victory over Randolph-Macon in the Division III World Series.
Jackson Webster hit a two-run, walk-off homer in the ninth inning to give Birmingham-Southern, a team that has quickly captured the attention of sports fans around the country with its feel-good story, a surreal borderline win.
“The magic of baseball, right?” Webster said. “The storybook isn’t finished yet.”
The Panthers threw away a 4-0 lead and fell behind 7-4 before scoring three runs in the eighth — picking up the only pinch-hit RBI of the rally — to tie it.
Then comes the ninth time and a moment that looks like something from a Hollywood script or a Disney movie.
Andrew Dutton led off with a walk before Webster, who hit a two-run homer in the first, took a bad swing at the first pitch. It was so bad and out of character that he walked out of the batter’s box and tapped his chest while apologizing to coach Jan Weisberg.
Webster didn’t miss the next pitch.
Connecting on a hanging curveball, he sent a homer over the wall in left field to set off a wild celebration on the field and in the stands of Classic Park.
As he circled the third and was greeted at the plate by his awe-inspiring teammates, a raucous group of Sigma Chi brothers from the school who kept their faith as things unfolded dimly danced in the hallways.
It was an unforgettable moment in a season full of adversity for Birmingham-Southern and a team bound by adversity.
“Just grit is true,” said Weisberg, whose 17th season at the school has presented challenges he never imagined. “The war in this man is the story of the night.”
Birmingham-Southern, which lost the national title game in 2019, advanced to the double-elimination tournament and will play at Wisconsin-Whitewater on Sunday.
Based on the wild scene outside the charter bus, it may be difficult for anyone from Birmingham-South to sleep.
After losing their opener to Salve Regina on Friday, the same day Birmingham-Southern officially closed its doors for the first time since 1856 due to financial difficulties, the Panthers faced a win-or-die situation to keep the season — and the school’s legacy — going.
Unlike Friday’s game, when they fell behind 7-0 before rallying, the Panthers jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first on Webster’s two-run homer and Charlie Banks’ solo shot — two balls thudding off the mark beyond the left-center field wall. free car wash for fans Lake County Captain.
But Randolph-Macon caught in the seventh and then took the lead with three runs in the eighth, when the Panthers had two wild pitches and it began to unravel to the point where it looked like the season of Birmingham-Southern and the program two over.
Weisberg thought worse.
“You can’t help but have feelings – is this ever going to end?” said. “But with all this team has passed especially, with all of us have been hanging over our heads, I will admit it happened to me for some time between rounds.
“I started thinking about what am I going to say? Am I going to stay together? And I said, stop, stop.”
There’s no margin for error, but the Panthers haven’t felt the pressure in months. This is easy after what they have been through. After the school decision is made, BSC players make their own decision to finish strong.
Under Weisberg’s steady guidance, Birmingham-Southern’s summer boys have been playing freely for months, unburdened between the foul lines after learning at the end of March that schools were closing.
Baseball has drawn them together and pulled them through what some on the team have described as losing a family member.
It’s been an emotional ride for Birmingham-Southern’s players, parents, alumni, faculty and everyone associated with the liberal arts college since the announcement in March that a $30 million loan from the state of Alabama would not come through and it would have to close .
“In the beginning, there was a lot of worry,” said Cole Steadman, one of the few players on the 2019 team who came to root on this special edition of the Panthers. “We are devastated to hear that the school is closing, but seeing the community come together is special.”
