Birmingham-Southern College will play for a Division-III college baseball national championship even though its school will cease to exist later this week. Retired MLB first baseman Adam LaRoche’s son is a major factor in the Panthers’ success!
It is the wildest story in sports right now.
Birmingham-Southern was founded in 1856 on 192 acres in Alabama. The private liberal arts college is set to close for good on Friday, May 31. Financial struggles, due to both errors in accounting and dwindling enrollment, forced the Board of Trustees to shut down after 168 years.
Meanwhile, its baseball team will play its first game of the D-III World Series.
Timing of this remarkable Cinderella story could not be more interesting. The Panthers advanced out of a Regional as a No. 3-seed and needed just two games to take down one of the top-eight teams in the country in a Super Regional on Saturday. As a result, they will continue their season even after the school literally shuts down.
Drake LaRoche played a huge role in the Super Regional. He threw a 127-pitch complete game to give Birmingham-Southern a 1-0 cushion in the best-of-three series on Friday!
If that name sounds familiar, it should!
Drake was famously involved in his father’s decision to retire from MLB after 12 years. The Chicago White Sox told Adam, the 2012 Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award winner, that he needed to stop bringing his 14-year-old son into the clubhouse and onto the field even though it had become customary.
LaRoche did not appreciate the organization’s request and decided to hang it up instead of bending knee. He abruptly retired on principle!
Now eight years later, Drake LaRoche is the ace for a college that will close on Friday. The 5-foot-9 righty played at three different community colleges before landing with the Panthers. He will soon toe the rubber in the Division-III World Series this weekend! What a story!