Wildcats finish in top 25
by Lance Fleming
6/5/2009 3:14:52 PM
ABILENE – The ACU baseball team finished the 2009 season ranked in the 25 in the country by both national polls.
The Wildcats – who this season won the Lone Star Conference championship for the first time since 2002 – finished their season at 44-19, the program's 11th 40-win season in head coach Britt Bonneau's 13 seasons at ACU.
ACU finished the season ranked No. 16 in the nation in the Collegiate Baseball magazine poll, while the pingbaseball.com poll ranked the Wildcats 24th in the nation.
Lynn (Fla.) – which wasn't even ranked in the Collegiate Baseball magazine poll going into the regional tournaments – finished the season ranked No. 1 in both polls after putting together an upset run through the NCAA post-season en route to its first national championship.
National runner-up Emporia State – the NCAA Division II South Central Region champion – finished No. 2 in both polls, while California-San Diego was No. 3 in both polls. Southern Arkansas was No. 4 and Mesa State was No. 5 in the Collegiate Baseball magazine poll, while Belmont Abbey and Mesa State were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively in the pingbaseball.com poll.
Besides Emporia State and ACU, other NCAA Division II South Central Region teams that were ranked in the final polls were Central Missouri (10th in Collegiate Baseball magazine poll and 11th in pingbaseball.com poll), Angelo State (18 / 25), Cameron (30 / 27), Nebraska-Omaha (28 in Collegiate Baseball) and Texas-Permian Basin (29 in Collegiate Baseball).