TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (March 15, 2023) – The pace has been fast and the events have been large for the Salt Lake Community College Athletic Department over the past several weeks.
 
SLCC's tempo slows down a bit this week, with the Bruins traveling in both Baseball and Softball for road series at Southern Idaho. No. 5 SLCC Men's Basketball is in its bye week preparing for next week's NJCAA tournament in Kansas.
 
For more information and upcoming schedules, visit slccbruins.com.
 
Baseball: SLCC is on a roll entering a series at Southern Idaho this weekend, coming off a four-game sweep of Colorado Northwestern earlier this week.
 
Inclement weather forced the Bruins to play eight games in seven days, with Salt Lake successfully capping off the first part of the week with a home sweep. Now SLCC will contend with a Southern Idaho team that is returning home after being swept by Southern Nevada on the road.
 
Salt Lake coach D.G. Nelson said Southern Idaho always presents a tough challenge.
 
"CSI is always tough, and they play hard against us," he said. "It will be a fun series."
 
After a slow start to the year, the Bruins have responded by going 6-2 in league play to start the year, marks that have impressed Nelson.
 
"We are just looking to play better baseball each week," he said. "We are banged up and trying to get healthy, but I love the direction we are headed."
 
Men's Basketball: Salt Lake earned the No. 5 seed in next week's NJCAA tournament at 'Hutch', meaning the Bruins are spending this week trying to both stay sharp and rest, simultaneously.
 
SLCC won't play again until Wednesday, March 22, when it faces the winner of a game between Tallahassee and Trinidad State. The layoff is certainly on the mind of Salt Lake coach Kyle Taylor, who stated as much.
 
"The key with practice this week is to stay fresh," he said. "I talked to our team yesterday about this and there are two components to this. The first is to not over practice this week, but the second is to make sure we practice enough. Staying fresh also means staying in rhythm, so we need to practice hard when we're practicing and keep working on getting better."
 
With this week's focus in mind, Taylor noted his team's preparation for next week's tournament has been going on throughout the season.
 
"This is the part of the season where our preseason schedule should pay off," he said. "We have flown to Dallas, Denver, Arizona, and California so are used to getting on a plane and flying to play, which we need to do going to the national tournament."
 
Softball: SLCC is riding high entering a road series this weekend, coming off a four-game sweep of Colorado Northwestern earlier this week.
 
The Bruins posted run-rule victories in each of the games, setting up Salt Lake with momentum as they travel to play doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday against Southern Idaho. The series will also give SLCC a chance to cement its league lead over CSI, who is in second place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference standings.
 
Salt Lake coach Cyndee Bennett said her team is looking forward to the challenge of the week.
 
"We are playing a very strong opponent in Southern Idaho," she said. "They are always good on the offensive side of the ball, and they have strong pitching. This is going to be a test for the team, and I am looking forward to the challenge.
 
"Our strong start is a good confidence boost.  We are going into Twin Falls with a lot of confidence in each other."