GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — As they sensed what was about to happen, the Salt Lake Community College baseball team was singing and clapping along to Garth Brooks' “Friends in Low Places” during a video review in the ninth inning Saturday at Suplizio Field.
And when right fielder Colton Stanton caught the final out, the singing turned to primal screams of victory and a dogpile on the pitcher's mound. Kade Gambill briefly broke away and sprawled onto his back near second base, his hands clasped to his head in disbelief.
“It's electric,” left fielder Chandler Reber said. “You know, I've never felt anything like it before. You know, to have all the fans here supporting us? It's, I mean, it's really, you know, I've never played in a ballgame like it. I've never played with so many fans cheering on and so it's, it's an electric feeling.”
One Salt Lake player gave injured Luke Jacobs a piggy-back ride from the dugout to join the celebration after the Bruins, in only their second trip to the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series, capped off their incredible week with a 9-6 victory over top-seeded Walters State Community College.
“We had a motto that was, go to the mountains,” second baseman Jake Mortensen said. “That was like our biggest motivator, just like winning it for your bros, your brothers. That's what you do it for, and so like, every time I did something, it wasn't about me. I was trying to do everything I could for my team.”
More screams and hugs followed as they received the first national championship trophy in program history, then a blue sports drink dousing of coach David “DG” Nelson and a lengthy celebration in the outfield before they finally drifted out the stadium.
Playing in front of a crowd of 12,305 had the players a bit in awe, but they seemed to shake off any jitters and settle in — in fact, the Bruins seemed to feed off the atmosphere.
Jalen Seward's seventh-inning two-run double broke a 5-5 tie, and after Walters State (59-8-1) picked up a run in the bottom of the inning on Carson Cabbage's home run, the Bruins answered back.
Taylor Ayala led off the inning with a double and stole third. With one out, Gage Olsen lifted a fly ball to deep right field that was dropped, allowing Ayala to score and Olsen to take second. Reber drove in another insurance run with a base hit up the middle.
As expected, the teams went toe-to-toe most of the game, with the Senators scoring three runs in the fifth inning to pull ahead 5-4. Cabbage drew a bases-loaded walk and Jack Torbett singled up the middle to bring home two runs.
Each team ended up with 10 hits, and the nine pitchers combined to strike out 28 batters. Walters State starter Walker Morgan fanned nine in five innings and Gage Olsen, who got the start for Salt Lake, struck out four over three innings.
Austin Taylor got the win, allowing only one run on two hits over three innings, then turned the ball over to Darius Henderson in the ninth. Henderson struck out two of the four men he faced to earn his third save of the tournament.
Seward, who went 2 for 5 and drove in the two key runs, was selected the Kirby Puckett Memorial MVP, which was presented for the second year by Kirby Puckett, Jr., who threw out the ceremonial first pitch alongside his young son, Kirby Puckett III.
“Nothing but gratitude, nothing but the highest praise to everyone on this team and our coaching staff,” Seward said. “Honestly, it's just you have to stay true to yourself, and that's that's what I had to do. I got away from myself for my first couple of at-bats, and just knew that I had to get the job done for my boys and myself. So got back to what I know how to do.”
Jake Olsen hit a solo home run in the fourth inning and drove in three runs and Reber two more for the Bruins, who went 0-2 in their first trip to Grand Junction in 2023.
Along with Blinn's Ethan Gonzalez hitting .700 to break Puckett's longstanding hitting record and earn the tournament's Outstanding Hitter award, teams combined to hit a record 72 home runs – Cabbage's broke the mark of 71 set in 2002 — one inauspicious mark was set. A total of 73 batters were hit by pitches, breaking the previous high of 54.
Gonzalez also tied the tournament record with six hits in one game and earned a spot on the all-tournament team as a catcher.
For Nelson, Saturday's victory was a culmination of a goal set long before the season began.
“I'll let that sink in next week. I don't know,” Nelson said of how he was feeling after the win. “I'm just glad we won and the kids are happy,. They just never gave up. They never quit working. They never lost sight of their goal and where they're where they were headed.”
Like the rest of his teammates, Seward was soaking in the moment.
“It means everything,” he said. “This is what I've prepared my whole life for, and this is what I (was) grinding for since I was five years old.”
All-Tournament Team
IF: Holden Pantier, Walters State
IF: Sherman Johnson, McLennan
IF: Jalen Seward, Salt Lake
OF: Hudson Manwaring, Salt Lake
OF: Drew DuPont, Lake Land
OF: Owen Smith, McLennan
OF: Taylor Harris, Walters State
C: Ethan Gonzalez, Blinn
C: Deiten Lachance, McLennan
P: Jaxon Grossman, Salt Lake
P: Aiden Robertson, Walters State
DH: Tyler Myatt, Walters State
Robert Purkey, Jr. Outstanding Pitcher: Jaxon Grossman, Salt Lake
Outstanding Hitter: Ethan Gonzalez, Blinn (.700)
Jay W. Tolman Outstanding Defensive Player: Sherman Johnson, McLennan
Tillie Bishop Sportsmanship Award: Eastern Oklahoma
Debbie Hamilton All-In Award: Kayden Althoff, Lake Land; Commander Chris Taylor, Grand Junction Police Department
Bus Bergman Coach of the Tournament: DG Nelson, Salt Lake
Kirby Puckett Memorial MVP: Jalen Seward, Salt Lake