Photo courtesy of Birmingham-Southern.
JT Weisberg
A former John Carroll Catholic baseball standout is among those making history as part of the magical ride that is the final season of competition for Birmingham-Southern College.
Seventh-seeded BSC (32-14) faces No. 2 seed Salve Regina University (38-8) at 3:45 pm Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Division III College World Series in East Lake, Ohio. The game will be streamed here.
Among those wearing the Black and Gold is John Carroll graduate J.T. Weisberg, a middle fielder/outfielder completing his junior season for the Panthers. Weisberg was a three-sport star for the Cavs, lettering in baseball, basketball and football. At BSC, he has appeared in six games this season.
The Panthers gained national attention during their remarkable run to capture their Super Regional over the weekend to secure their first CWS appearance since 2019. That wasn’t the headline, however. BSC announced in March that it would be closing its doors permanently on May 31 after operating for 168 years.
Outlets such as ESPN, NBC News, USA Today were just a few of the countless media outlets heralding the news that the Panthers’ baseball team will outlive the university itself.
According to consumer intelligence and social listening platform Talkwalker, discussion of the Panthers’ fight for survival created almost 3,000 unique conversations across social media this week, generating engagement involving more than 137,000 unique accounts with a potential reach of 1.8 billion social accounts. Sentiment was scored largely positive or neutral, although 7% of comments were deemed negative, largely around the university’s decision to close and the plight of small liberal arts colleges facing uncertain financial futures and declining enrollment.
Talkwalker found the Panthers’ being discussed not only in the United States but in nations as far away as China, Indonesia, India, Egypt, the United Kingdom and Colombia.
Locally, the baseball team has been a source of immense pride among fans and alumni, a chance to fly the BSC banner proudly beyond the inevitable ending. An online fundraising effort had collected almost $106,000 from more than 1,000 donors as of Wednesday afternoon. The money, according to organizers, would go to fund travel expenses for the tournament and to assist BSC coaches after the season.
If the Panthers win Friday afternoon, they would advance to the winner’s bracket game at 7 p.m. CDT Saturday against either third-seeded Wisconsin-Whitewater or No. 6 seed Randolph-Macon. A loss Friday would send BSC to the loser’s bracket, facing elimination, at 2 p.m. Sunday.
The Division III College World Series continues – as does potentially the representation of Birmingham-Southern – through June 6.
