A rough start turned into a perfect ending for the Salt Lake Community College baseball team on Tuesday at the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.
In a third-round elimination bracket game, the Bruins surrendered four runs in the top of the first inning to No. 5 seed Shelton (Alabama) State, but rallied back to tie the game in the second inning and eventually took a 15-13 victory at Suplizio Field.
The Bruins are one of five teams remaining in the tournament and will face the loser of the late Tuesday game pitting Lake Land and Florence-Darlington on Wednesday at 2 p.m. MDT in an elimination game. Eighth-seeded SLCC is now 2-1 in the tournament and 45-11 overall.
Tuesday, SLCC took an 11-7 lead in the fifth inning by scoring three runs to extend their lead. Taylor Ayala’s 3-run double with two outs did the trick.
However, Shelton State scored six runs in the sixth inning, on six hits, to take a 13-11 lead.
But SLCC’s bullpen, which coach DG Nelson praised before the tournament as one of the best in the nation, shut the door on the Buccaneers the rest of the way. Dan Brousseau did a lot of the work, then Darius Henderson shut down Shelton State in order in the ninth to get the save.
SLCC took the 14-13 lead on a sacrifice fly by Luke Jacobs in the seventh and got an insurance run in the eighth when Averie Doezie hit a solo homer.
Salt Lake started the tournament Saturday with a 16-2 win over Florida SouthWestern, then lost Monday 11-9 to Lake Land of Illinois before bouncing back with Tuesday’s win.