Championship baseball comes to the Western Slope when the 46th annual Alpine Bank/Junior College World Series takes up residence at Suplizio Field in Grand Junction beginning Saturday.

The double-elimination tournament culminates with the championship game on May 30 or 31. If three teams remain heading into May 30, the team with the most games played will receive a bye and will play for the championship on May 31 against the May 30th winner.

The ten tournament teams advanced to Grand Junction by winning regional tournaments throughout the country.

On Saturday, the first of four first-round games gets under way at 9 a.m.

Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College takes on San Jacinto (Texas) College in the tournament opener, followed a noon contest pitting Neosho County (Kan.) Community College and Spartanburg (S.C.) College.

Saturday’s schedule concludes with a 3 p.m. game with Seminole (Fla.) Community College playing Community College of Southern Nevada, then wraps up with a 7:30 p.m. contest between Grayson (Texas) Community College and Connors State (Okla.) College.

The last first-round game pitting Meridian (Miss.) College and Walters State (Tenn.) Community College will be played Sunday evening at 7:30 p.m. Prior to the Meridian-Walters State game, two elimination bracket games, featuring losing teams from Saturday’s openers will be played at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Pretournament passes, priced at $20 for adults and $15 for students, ages 6-21, are available for purchase at Grand Junction Albertson Supermarkets and the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce, 360 Grand Avenue.

Single-game, day passes and tournament passes will also be on sale at the Suplizio Field box office starting Saturday morning.