I sent my latest payment to the Direct Loan Servicing Center on Monday as I continue to chip away at the money I owe for my education at Towson University. Thankfully, I received a good deal of financial aid from my parents and was able to get through college in 3 1/2 years, making my loan payments a bit lighter than some of my fellow alums.

During my time at Towson, the university was undergoing a huge overhaul to its campus. They rolled out a brand spanking new College of Liberal Arts Building, built a slew of new dorms in the West Village and have prepared for a 5000-seat arena opening in 2013.

Admittedly, I’m excited about this expansion for my Alma mater. As a sports fan, I’m eager for them to build up the basketball program and I’m proud of the transformation of the Tigers’ football team under Rob Ambrose. I was thrilled to see LSU on the schedule this season — and hey, Towson only lost by 16.

But the news of Towson potentially cutting its baseball program is inexcusable.

As reported in Baseball America, the athletic department recommended a proposal to cut baseball and men’s soccer after this academic year. The proposal is pending final approval by the university president in November.

While Towson’s baseball team hasn’t been to a regional since 1991, they have recently produced a major league talent in Casper Wells of the Seattle Mariners. (There’s also Charles Cononie, a Rays Single-A prospect suspended for meth, but we’ll stick with Casper for this argument).

Mike Waddell, Towson’s athletic director, said the cuts will save the University roughly $800,000 and will help them comply with Title IX legislation, “which calls for the athletic program representation to remain consistent with the school’s 60-40 female-male student ratio.”

If Towson is hurting for money, it certainly never showed during my years there. Students were spending $30 on cases of Gatorade, being overcharged for textbooks and repeatedly fined with parking violations by the university’s police force of meter maids. 

True story, I was sick over a weekend and parked my car in a lot close to my dorm building after running to a drug store. On Sunday it snowed and I was unable to move my car back to the further-away lot I had paid for with my parking pass. Two days went by and there was still no clear path back to my spot. I returned to my car on Wednesday and had three yellow envelops with $225 worth of parking tickets on my windshield.

This was the norm when I was student. Every Towson alum has a parking horror story.

I’m in no way suggesting that Towson could help keep the baseball program afloat with the money they rob from students on parking, but I do think that if they underwent this heavy expansion of the school at the cost of two athletic teams than it wasn’t really worth it.

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf reports that Towson’s athletics department received $510,000 from their football game in Death Valley against LSU.

Students have started online petitions to save the program, but Aaron Fitt writes that “they face an uphill battle.”

I can’t imagine an empty John B. Schuerholz Park, the place that I would often to stop on spring days in between classes to watch Casper and the Tigers for a few innings.

I’m sad that my beloved TU would let that all go.

UPDATE: An emailer named Jamie points out to me that Schuerholz Park is prime real estate for Towson to use in its continued expansion. Cutting baseball allows for even more expansion.

Zach Wilt is the Founding Editor of BaltimoreSportsReport.com. You can follow him on Twitter @zamwi or send him an email: zach@baltimoresportsreport.com.