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ABILENE -- The ACU Wildcats are headed back to America's Heartland for another crack at a berth in the national championship tournament.
The Wildcats are the No. 2 seed and will join five other teams later this week in the NCAA Division II South Central Region tournament in Warrensburg, Mo. Central Missouri is the No. 1 seed and the tournament host for the second straight season.
The Wildcats will play No. 5 seed St. Mary's at noon Thursday in the first game of the tournament at Crane Stadium at Tompkins Field. Individual session tickets will be $8 for adults and $3 for students / youth. All-session passes will be $25 for adults and $10 for students / youth.
Thursday's other games will pit No. 1 seed Central Missouri against No. 6 seed Nebraska-Omaha at 3:30 p.m., followed by No. 3 seed Emporia State against No. 4 seed Incarnate Word at 7 p.m.
Central Misouri, ACU, Emporia State and Nebraska-Omaha were all in the field last season with Emporia State eventually winning the regional championship and advancing to the NCAA Division II national championship tournament.
ACU, which last week won its second straight Lone Star Conference championship and fifth in 14 seasons under head coach Britt bonneau, carries a 46-13 record into Thursday's first-round game against the Rattlers of St. Mary's (39-17), who won the Heartland Conference regular-season championship before dropping its first two games in the conference tournament.
The Wildcats are 22-11 all-time against St. Mary's, including an 11-7 win last year in Abilene in the last meeting between the teams.
This will be ACU's 10th all-time regional tournament appearance (all since 1996) and ninth under Bonneau. The Wildcats -- who won their only regional championship in 2003 -- are 11-16 all-time regional tournament games.
Thursday's game against St. Mary's will be the Wildcats' third post-season game against a team from the Heartland Conference with ACU holding a 2-0 record going into the contest. ACU rallied to beat Incarnate Word, 8-5 in 2006, and came back from a 7-0 deficit last year to knock out Texas-Permian Basin, 10-9.
