TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (May 8, 2019) - The Salt Lake Community College baseball team had its opportunity to host the Region 18 championships tied 1-1 late in a game last Saturday at Southern Nevada. Unfortunately, the Coyotes made a few extra plays to earn the victory and earn the Scenic West regular-season title.

While winning the SWAC crown and hosting this week's region championships would have been a nice feather in the cap of SLCC, the season is far from over for the Bruins, who are receiving votes in the latest NJCAA polls. Instead, Salt Lake has added motivation as it returns to the College of Southern Nevada's Morse Stadium this week for the Region 18 championships. The tournament champion will represent the region at the upcoming NJCAA district championships.

With all of the scenarios and situations that exist, SLCC coach D.G. Nelson said his team is focused on trying to improve from a rough 1-3 performance last weekend against Southern Nevada.

The tournament, which will feature every single team in the Scenic West, will begin on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. as Colorado Northwestern and USU Eastern face off against each other. The winner of that game will advance to play top-seeded Southern Nevada later that night, while two-seed Salt Lake will play Southern Idaho at 3:30 p.m. SLCC and CSI had notable back-and-forths throughout the season as the Bruins earned a narrow 4-3 edge in the series. Salt Lake swept three games from CSI at Cate Field in March before falling 1-3 in a four-game series in Twin Falls later in April. 

The winner of the SLCC-CSI matchup will play the winner of Thursday's late game at 12:00 p.m. on Friday. The Region 18 championship game is tentatively scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on Saturday at Morse Stadium. The tournament is being played in double-elimination format. Any team that loses Thursday will have to win two games on Friday and two games on Saturday to claim the championship.