Bucs Drop World Series Slugfest

Bucs Drop World Series Slugfest
May 27, 2025
GRAND JUNCTION – The No. 5 seed Shelton State baseball team dropped a 15-13 slugfest to No. 8 seed Salt Lake (Utah) Community College at the NJCAA World Series at Suplizio Field.
 
Shelton State (48-14) finishes the season with the second-most wins in program history. The Bucs made their eighth overall appearance at the JuCo World Series this season. The Bucs have reached the World Series four times in the past five years, including three straight trips in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
 
Salt Lake (45-11) scored in seven of the eight innings against the Bucs for its second win of the tournament. The Bruins snapped a 13-13 on Luke Jacobs' sac fly in the seventh inning. Avery Doezie's solo home run in the eighth gave the Bruins a 15-13 lead.
 
The bullpen combination of Dan Brousseau and Darius Henderson made the lead stand up. Brousseau (3-0) retired all seven batters he faced and earned the win. Henderson collected his 10th save a perfect ninth inning. The duo retired all 10 batters they faced and struck out four.
 
Sophomore lefty John Micheal Pickens (6-2) worked 2 1/3 innings in relief and was charged with the loss.
 
The two teams combined for 28 runs and 32 hits, including six home runs, in the nearly four-hour game. In addition, the teams combined to leave 21 men on base.
 
Shelton State had five players with multiple hit games on Tuesday, led by senior centerfielder Pierce Dutton's three-hit game. He also scored one run and added two RBIs. Freshman DH Jackson Henderson, freshman second baseman James Graphos, sophomore left fielder Hayes Alford and sophomore shortstop Paxton Ponder all had two hits for the Bucs.
 
Alford started the slugfest with a first-inning grand slam that gave the Bucs a quick 4-0 lead. It was his second home run of the season and both were grand slams. It was the first grand slam by a Shelton State player in the World Series since Drake Logan in 2021.
 
Ponder and Graphos both had two hits and two RBIs. Ponder scored two runs and Graphos scored one. Henderson had two hits and scored two runs. He also hit a solo home run to lead off the Bucs six-run, sixth inning. Sophomore right fielder Mason Steele reached base four times and scored three runs. He hit a solo home run in the fourth inning that gave the Bucs a 6-5 lead.
 
Salt Lake took its first lead of the game 8-7 with a three-run fourth inning. Jalen Seward belted a two-run home run for the Bruins. Salt Lake increased its lead to 11-7 with four unearned runs in the fifth inning. Taylor Ayala's three-run double was the big blow in the inning.
 
Shelton State regained the lead 13-11 by scoring six runs in the sixth inning. In addition to Henderson's solo home run, sophomore catcher Lawson Neel had an RBI single, Ponder stroked a two-run double to tie the game at 11-11. Dutton's two-run double put the Bucs back on front 13-11.
 
Chander Reber's two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning made it 13-13.