l Bear River is back to defend its Class 3-A state title.

l The Bears were ranked No. 1 most of this season.

l Contender Snow Canyon might have the most pitching depth in the tourney. While the end result was fine - the school's first state baseball title - Bear River would rather avoid the road it took to get there last season.

The top-ranked Bears were shocked in the first round by Delta, then pulled off a rare sweep through the losers' bracket to win the Class 3-A baseball championship. Bear River won eight straight games, including seven in three days and three on the final day of the tournament.

The Bears will begin defense of their state title today as the tournament starts at the home sites of the four region champions. First- and second-round games will be played today in the double-elimination tournament.

Players such as Jason Zundel, Sage Hurd, Dallas Miller and Marcus Hanley, were around for last year's thrilling title run. They're hoping to make things a little easier on themselves this time around

"We'll just see if that's the way we're supposed to win it and try and do it again,” Bear River coach Clay Chournos joked. "No, let's hope not. It sucked. We don't want to try it again.”

The Bears were ranked No. 1 throughout last season, and Chournos said his team let the pressure of high expectations get to it in the loss to the Rabbits. Bear River was ranked No. 1 for nearly the entire season this year but was briefly bumped out of the top spot after losing its first league game in four years to Grantsville.

"We're just ready to go play,” Chournos said. "The guys are much looser than they were last year.”

Though the Bears are ranked No. 1, they aren't an overwhelming favorite to repeat as 3-A champs. At least six teams have a realistic shot at winning this year's title. Snow Canyon, the Region 9 champion, probably has the most pitching depth.

Warriors ace Chad Lambert is 6-0 this season and opponents are hitting .111 against him. Mike Bentons has been almost as strong, as Snow Canyon's opponents are batting just .143 against him.

The Warriors have mostly rolled through Region 9 but lost twice to Pine View. Snow Canyon won the league championship with an assist from Dixie, which swept Pine View.

"If we keep doing what we're doing, we should be OK,” said first-year Snow Canyon coach Reed Secrist, who played his share of games against the Salt Lake Stingers and Buzz during his minor league baseball career. "But you never know. Look at what Delta did last year. We're trying to not get too excited.”

Region 8 champion Carbon will also play host to a pod of games today. The Dinos, while a traditional power in 3-A, are somewhat of a surprise league champion. Carbon is young and lost the school's all-time best pitcher to graduation. But the Dinos, led by key returning players such as Joe Via, went through Region 8 unbeaten.

Uintah and Wasatch tied for the Region 10 championship, and the Utes won the coin toss to play host to today's games.