Kansas Wesleyan's baseball team will begin play in the NAIA National Championship in the Hoosier State.
The Coyotes are the third seed and play second-seed and 17th-ranked Bellevue (Neb.) in the Opening Round on Monday at Winterholter Field on the campus of Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. Top seed and ninth-ranked Taylor takes on fourth-seed Grand View (Iowa) in Monday's other game in the four-team bracket. Starting times will be announced later.
The 46-team NAIA tournament field was unveiled Monday afternoon.
Monday's losers play Tuesday followed by a game between the two winners. The double-elimination event continues through Wednesday with a second championship game scheduled for Thursday, if necessary.
The Coyotes (39-13) qualified for their fourth consecutive Opening Round by cruising through the Kansas Conference tournament last weekend in Joplin scoring 45 runs in their four games. They were 30-6 during the regular season and KCAC co-champions with Oklahoma Wesleyan.
KWU won the Shreveport Opening Round bracket last year and advanced to the NAIA World Series for the first time in program history.
Coach Bill Neale said preparations for Bellevue (40-13) would begin immediately. The Bruins won the North Star Athletic Association regular season title (19-1) and the conference tournament.
"Obviously, we know they're a good team and luckily, they've played some teams that we know and people we know so right away we'll start trying to do some scouting, watch some of their games on old live streams," he said. "I know that they've always been geared. They've always got some electric players in their lineup and typically have a few electric arms, starters and bullpen."
Upland is approximately 11 hours from Salina and located midway between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, an hour's drive from each.
"I've heard nothing but great things about Taylor and Upland," Neale said. "They put on a great tournament and the people who have been there before say they do it first class. It feels like 'this is what playoff baseball should be like.'"
Neale said his message to his team is to maintain the status quo.
"They just need to stay confident and keep playing the way they are," he said. "Some guys haven't been here before and some guys even coming from jucos, or high schools haven't played championship ball at this level. They just need to keep believing in themselves and keep that same confidence and a little bit of arrogance of like 'we belong here, we deserve to have a chance to move on to the World Series.'"
Winning is the goal but Neale also wants his team to savor the experience.
"You've got to go out there and play the game and if we win, we win," he said. "If we don't we move on to the next round and we play the next team that's up. Just play the game in front of us, play one inning at a time.
"Honestly, what I really want them to do is to enjoy the moment. I don't want them stressed. Let's enjoy this, have fun with it. Sometimes we just need to calm down, have some fun and go from there. Believe in ourselves and believe that we're the better team."