The No. 8 Bruins won three straight games to claim the JUCO World Series title.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Salt Lake Community College Redwood Road campus is pictured Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019.
The Bruins are baseball champs.
Salt Lake Community College upset No. 1-seeded Walters State (Tenn.) 9-6 to win the JUCO World Series championship Saturday night in Grand Junction, Colorado.
“They just never gave up. They never quit working,” SLCC coach David Nelson told reporters after the win. “They never lost sight of their goal and where they were headed.”
Sophomore Jake Olsen, of Lehi, went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored. His solo homer in the top of the fourth gave the underdog Bruins a 4-2 lead.
First baseman Jalen Seward went 2-for-5 and drove in two runs on a two-out double in the top of the seventh, breaking a 5-5 tie.
“It means everything,” he said of the victory. “This is what I’ve prepared my whole life for. … This is what I’m grinding for since I was 5 years old.”
Sophomore pitcher Austin Taylor, a Copper Hills High product, got the win, allowing one run over three innings.
Salt Lake lost its second game of the double-elimination tournament before rallying for three straight wins to claim its first ever JUCO World Series title.