Underdog Bruins: Salt Lake overcomes early loss to win NJCAA World Series title

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Salt Lake Community College took the hard route through the depths of the bracket, but it ended on a high note: a national championship.

Lehi grad Jake Olsen went 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and three runs scored; and former Desert Hills outfielder Chandler Reber was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and a run scored as eighth-seeded Salt Lake rallied from a 5-4 deficit in the fifth inning to beat Walters State in the NJCAA World Series championship game Saturday night at Sam Suplizio Field in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The Bruins (48-11) are the lowest-seeded team to win the World Series title, and have lost just once since April 18 — a run of 16 straight games that was upended Monday in the second game of the national tournament.

Jalen Seward went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored for Salt Lake (48-11), who took a 4-2 lead on Olsen's solo shot in the top of the fourth. But Walters State came back, plating three in the bottom of the inning, including a two-run double by Jack Torbett, to move back in front 5-4.

But the bottom of the order was pivotal in putting Salt Lake back on top.

Seward smacked a two-run double in the top of the seventh to jump back in front 7-5, and Olsen added an insurance run with a dropped fly ball in the eighth. Reber finished off the scoring by plating Olsen with an RBI single to lead the Bruins to their first World Series title under 22nd-year head coach DG Nelson.

The former Dixie State assistant who helped the then-Rebels to an NJCAA national runner-up finish in 2000 took over at Salt Lake in 2004 and has led the Bruins to a 783-404 record, including a No. 1 national seed in last year's NJCAA World Series — where they finished eighth with a 31-20 record.

This year, the Bruins earned the No. 8 seed to the NJCAA World Series. But after winning their first game 16-2 against Florida Southwestern State, Salt Lake dropped into the one-loss bracket Monday with an 11-9 loss to Lakeland Community College.

From there, the Bruins fought back, securing a 15-13 win over No. 5 Shelton State on the back of Viewmont alum Luke Jacobs' RBI sac fly and Avery Doezie's solo shot in the seventh.

They fought back again — quite miraculously — from a 10-1 first-inning deficit against sixth-seeded Florence-Darlington before Cottonwood grad Doezie drilled a two-run blast in the eighth inning of the 17-16 win.

Then on Thursday, the Bruins avenged their loss to Lakeland with a 12-2 win where Utah transfer Jaxon Grossman scattered six hits and two earned runs with seven strikeouts in six innings to collect the win and set up Saturday's championship final with Walters State, which edged McLennan 11-9 late Friday night to advance to the final.

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