The Wayland baseball team, ranked #18 in the final NAIA Top 25, has qualified for the 2009 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round. The Pioneers received an at-large bid to the tournament, which will be played May 12-15 at nine different sites.
This year's field of 46 teams is comprised of 14 at-larges and 32 automatic qualifiers. Brackets and seedings will be announced at 6 p.m. this evening (May 8).
Sooner Athletic Conference regular season champion Lubbock Christian University and runner-up Oklahoma City received automatic bids. The two teams are ranked #1 and #2 in the final coaches' poll. WBU received the #4 at-large bid, while Southern Nazarene University, which tied for 22nd in the rankings, was the 8th team to get an at-large bid.