Campus briefs: Dixie State

BASEBALL: A Dixie State College charter bus transporting the DSC baseball team was involved in an accident with a snowplow early Sunday morning approximately five miles south of Colorado City, Ariz. None of the members of the DSC travel party were seriously injured.

The accident occurred on northbound Arizona State Highway 389 at around 5:15 a.m., and only the bus and the snowplow were involved in the collision. The Red Storm baseball team was returning from a four-game Pacific West Conference weekend series at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

According the DSC assistant baseball coach Trent Pratt, the bus began following the snowplow outside of Kanab, Utah, due to snow and poor road conditions. Just outside of Colorado City, the snowplow driver stopped quickly in front of the bus after coming upon a vehicle that had apparently spun off the road. The bus driver acted instantly to try and avoid the collision, but the right side of the bus collided with the back of the plow, severely damaging the bus. The bus stayed upright and the travel party was able to escape the vehicle through the emergency window exits.

"Our bus driver did all he could and did a great job in minimizing the damage," Pratt said. "It could have been a lot worse."

Five DSC student-athletes were taken by ambulance to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George, and all five were released by 10:30 a.m. One student-athlete suffered a laceration to the forehead and was checked for concussion symptoms, while two another student-athlete were treated for possible rib injuries. One other student-athlete was checked for concussion symptoms and another was treated for a possible foot injury. All x-rays and tests came back negative for major injury.

In addition, the bus driver was also taken to the hospital upon arriving in St. George for observation.

The uninjured team members were transported to the Colorado City Fire Station, where residents provided the team with food and drinks. Another DSC charter bus was dispatched to pick up the remaining team members and transported them back to St. George, arriving to the campus at around 9:30 a.m.

"Obviously as an administrator we're always concerned that an accident can occur because we travel by bus a lot and the last thing I always say to our teams is to be safe," said DSC Interim Athletic Director Maureen Eckroth. "We are blessed in this situation that all of our student-athletes are alright. I commend coach Pratt and our bus driver for their efforts, they were extremely well-organized after the accident and helped our student-athletes.