Wildcats earn bid to NCAA regional

ACU will join Delta State, Central Oklahoma, West Alabama in field

ABILENE -- The Abilene Christian University Wildcats are back in the NCAA Division II South Central Region baseball tournament, and they're heading back to Cleveland, Miss., where they made school history in 2003.

The Wildcats (41-15 overall and No. 5 in the nation, according to Monday's Collegiate Baseball magazine poll) are the No. 2 seed in the tournament, which begins Thursday at the home of No. 1 seed and defending national champion Delta State, Miss.  The Statesmen carry a 48-8 record and No. 3 national ranking into the tournament, which features four of the top 13 teams in the nation.

Central Oklahoma is the third seed and ranked No. 6 in the nation, while Gulf South Conference champion West Alabama is the fourth seed and ranked No. 13 in the nation.

ACU and Central Oklahoma will get the tournament started Thursday at 3 p.m., followed by Delta State and West Alabama at 7 p.m.  Elimination games will be contested Friday beginning at 11 a.m. with the championship games set for Saturday at noon.

All of ACU's games will be broadcast on KSLI 1280 AM, or you can follow the tournament pitch-by-pitch with live scoring by going to www.gostatesmen.com.

This is the Wildcats' sixth appearance in the regional tournament, and the last time they were in (2003) they won the championship in Cleveland, Miss., to earn a berth in the College World Series in Montgomery, Ala.