This is an opinion column.

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Let the record show that it was Ian Hancock who took the last batting practice cut at Birmingham-Southern.

Saying so long to over 160 years of history, the university on Arkadelphia Road is closing down on Friday. The final organized activity for Birmingham-Southern College will be an unlikely appearance in the Division III Baseball World Series, which begins the same day in Eastlake, Ohio. The final practice at the school was on Tuesday, and Hancock was given the honors to be the last hitter in the batter’s box.

He didn’t miss.

Shutting his school down in style, Hancock crushed a batting-practice dinger over the right-centerfield wall.

“Woo-hoo,” Hancock screamed.

He took a few steps toward the mound and tossed the bat into the air. Teammates watching from beyond the first-base line skipped and jumped onto the field. Others jogged in from the field.

Birmingham-Southern celebrated one last moment together at Striplin Field before shutting the place down. Now it’s on to the D-III World Series and a date with destiny for a school’s baseball team that’s going down swinging. This was once only a local story about a university closing its doors. Now Birmingham-Southern represents something more and it will play out on the national stage.

I was there for the final practice at Striplin Field and now I’m in Cleveland covering Birmingham-Southern’s final days together. They’re calling the Panthers a team without a school. That’s not true at all, at least not in the hearts of Birmingham-Southern fans and the team’s new national following.

As long as Birmingham-Southern continues to play baseball, the school’s courageous spirit remains alive.

Will Fagan is the chaplain at Birmingham-Southern. He attended the final practice at Striplin Field and then he spoke to the team. Fagan and I talked about the significance of the moment before he addressed the players.

“The college is closed,” Fagan said. “We’re looking at the last human activity. It’s 40 guys playing baseball.”

There’s always next season. That’s what we say in sports. That’s the eternal hope of these games.

Next season is the never-ending dream and the promise of something more. The unscripted drama of competition moves us all forward together.

At Birmingham-Southern, the script ends here. This is it. It’s the final at-bat for a university.

The team traveled to the Cleveland area on Wednesday afternoon. They’ll practice at Classic Park on Thursday and then Birmingham-Southern’s first game of the D-III World Series is at 3:45 p.m. CT on Friday against Salve Regina University. It’s a double-elimination tournament.

Don’t ask me about Birmingham-Southern’s chances because I have no idea about these other teams. I just know that Birmingham-Southern is being pushed along by the baseball gods and maybe even the Big Guy himself.

Birmingham-Southern is seeded seventh among eight teams and Salve Regina is the No.2. The rest of the field looks like this: No.1 Endicott vs. No.8 Lynchburg; No.3 Wisconsin-Whitewater vs. No.6 Randolph-Macon and No.4 Pomona-Pitzer vs. No.5 Misericordia.

“We didn’t see this coming, this great opportunity and experience,” said Hancock, “and it was right around the corner.

“When you’re looking at the doom and gloom of the school closing you might not see it at the time, but God has a plan and it will work out according to his plan. And the opportunity has been incredible.”

Hancock is a fifth-year senior at Birmingham-Southern. I’m told he was one of the last players of his signing class to be offered a scholarship. He couldn’t throw all that well, his speed wasn’t special and his body frame needed work. But assistant coach JD Hulse saw something.

“He could just find barrels,” Hulse said. “He is a true hitter.”

Now Hancock goes into the World Series with 47 home runs and was recently named to the final class of the Birmingham-Southern Sports Hall of Fame.

It was Hulse who threw batting practice at Striplin Field for the final time. Head coach Jan Weisberg was behind the mobile batting screen at home plate. Together, they watched Hancock’s final blast fly out of the stadium.

What do you do when there’s no tomorrow?

You swing for the fence.

SOUND OFF

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”