Birmingham-Southern College baseball coach Jan Weisberg walked into his office Monday morning to find a larger-than-usual number of interview requests, including several from national outlets.

Weisberg’s team had clinched a spot in the super regionals of the Division III tournament the day before, and while that was nothing new for the Alabama program he has guided for the past 17 years, a popular college baseball social media account noted afterward that the Panthers were two wins away from advancing to the College World Series for a school that would no longer exist.

That quirky possibility, which comes on the heels of the school’s board of trustees voting unanimously in March to close the 168-year-old liberal arts institution May 31 because of financial instability, was shared along with a video of the Panthers (30-14) celebrating after the final out of their regional title. It prompted sympathy and support, as well as media interest, from far and wide.

“We’re a pretty no-name school that no one outside of Birmingham knows, so it was cool to see the outpouring of love and people saying they’re rooting for us,” senior outfielder Ian Hancock said of the comments on the video, which has been viewed more than 2.4 million times.

“That’s movie stuff,” one baseball fan wrote on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “Imagine the @espn 30 for 30 we could make happen,” the school’s athletics account posted on the same platform later that night.

In fact, the creator of MTV’s “Two-A-Days” and several other sports documentary series contacted Weisberg and received permission for a camera crew to film Tuesday’s practice and follow the team for the remainder of its postseason run. Birmingham-Southern faces No. 2 Denison (42-6) in a best-of-three super regional beginning Friday in Granville, Ohio, with the winner advancing to the College World Series in Eastlake, Ohio, from May 31 to June 6.

“Normally, you’d think it was noise or a distraction,” Weisberg, who has led the Panthers to 11 postseason appearances in the past 13 years, including a runner-up finish in the 2019 College World Series, said of the extra attention. “But if what this team has already dealt with this season isn’t a distraction, this can’t be. These guys won’t have a field to come show their kids and grandkids. They won’t have a campus. But maybe, by allowing these people in, it will give them something to show people the journey they went through.”

That journey took a turn March 26, when Birmingham-Southern’s athletic director called Weisberg into his office to let him know the school planned to announce later that day it was ceasing operations at the end of May. The disappointing news didn’t come out of nowhere. Like countless other colleges and universities across the country, Birmingham-Southern had operated amid uncertainty for several years. As recently as October, after a bridge loan to keep the private school open was denied, a December closure was on the table before emergency funding was secured. Additional efforts to obtain a state loan to keep the school open while it grew its endowment failed to win support in the Alabama House of Representatives.

“It was a gut punch but something we had faced over the last two years,” said Weisberg, who delivered the news to his players shortly before it became public. “Really, really sad day. Really hard day. A lot of guys cried. I told the guys: ‘You have to grieve; you have to process that emotion. But we can’t let it cripple us. There’s a lot of work to be done to finish right.’ ”

After a strong start to the season, the baseball team had struggled to a 13-10 overall record and a 4-5 mark in Southern Athletic Association play. Injuries forced Weisberg to rely more on inexperienced players than he would have liked, and several of the team’s top returning hitters were mired in slumps. The team was on spring break and preparing to embark on a week-long road trip when the decision to shut down was made, which was the best-case scenario, Weisberg said, because it meant players would be together and wouldn’t have to worry about classwork while processing their grief.

The next day, the Panthers defeated LaGrange (Ga.) College, 8-5. In the locker room after the game, Weisberg delivered a message to his team that would become a rallying cry and a hashtag over the remainder of the season: While their beloved school was closing, they were #notdoneyet.

Over the next several weeks, Weisberg met with players with eligibility remaining to find out where they were interested in playing next year, then started contacting coaches on their behalf. Alumni of the program called to offer their support.

“I wanted them to enjoy the last two months as much as they could, and I thought trying to navigate it by themselves could be overwhelming,” Weisberg said. “Our mission moving forward was to honor the guys who came before us by playing hard and taking care of the little things. I told the guys, ‘Let’s not limp to the finish just because we’re in a terrible situation.’ Anyone would understand if we did, but our guys bought in.”

The Panthers won 14 of 16 games to close the regular season. In late April, more than 50 of Weisberg’s former players returned to campus for the final game at Striplin Field.

“Our mind-set shifted,” said Hancock, who is hitting .319 with a 1.043 OPS, 10 home runs and a team-leading 48 RBI. “If we’ve got nothing to lose, let’s go out there and enjoy our time together and play for each other.”

Hancock credited Weisberg, who would like to continue coaching if the right opportunity presents itself, for keeping the team’s spirits high and said, “Any place would be lucky to have him.”

Despite a strong strength of schedule and RPI, Birmingham-Southern was far from a lock for an at-large postseason bid after it was swept out of the SAA tournament. Uncertainty crept back in and affected the team’s practices over the ensuing two weeks, as the Panthers awaited their fate on selection Sunday. Weisberg described the elation that followed Birmingham-Southern’s name being announced – for the last time – as the “happiest moment” of the season for him.

“The job I tasked them with, finishing strong, they accomplished,” he said. “I told them, ‘Now just go have fun.’ ”

The Panthers took that advice to heart in Lexington last weekend, routing host Transylvania, 21-7, in their first game. After a 4-2 win over No. 1 seed Spalding on Saturday, Birmingham-Southern won again Sunday to clinch its third super regionals trip since 2019. Denison will provide an even stiffer test, but Weisberg’s squad, which played a difficult schedule and boasts plenty of postseason experience, is prepared to give the Big Red its best shot.

Birmingham-Southern boasts a strong lineup, led by Hancock, fellow senior Andrew Dutton and junior Jackson Webster, who hit a pair of grand slams in the first game of regionals. The pitching staff is anchored by juniors Josh Leerssen and Drake LaRoche, the son of former major leaguer Adam LaRoche. The Panthers have embraced their newfound status as America’s team and planned to enjoy their trip to super regionals, which included a stop Wednesday in Louisville for practice followed by a nice dinner out.

“It’s not a Cinderella story when you look at what we’re doing on the field,” Weisberg said. “But it is a very special year, and we’re going to celebrate that this week.”

The NCAA covers participating teams’ costs in the postseason, so Birmingham-Southern’s imminent closing will not affect the Panthers’ ability to travel to the World Series should they upset Denison. Reflecting on the past few months, Hancock, who participated in a modest graduation ceremony for senior baseball players on Tuesday, said getting the news in the middle of the season was actually a blessing.

“We’ve been able to make the most out of the situation,” he said. “No one’s thinking about playing without a school. Everyone just wants to extend our season and play together longer.”