Golden baseball advances to Final Four

BY DENNIS PLEUSS JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

COLORADO SPRINGS — It was a must-win situation for Golden’s baseball team Saturday afternoon at UCCS Mountain Lion Park.

e Demons (23-5 record) had to get a win over Riverdale Ridge (22-6) in the Class 4A consolation seminals of the double-elimination state tournament. e 4A Je co League champions delivered with a 8-1 victory thanks to a late o ensive surge to advance to the Final Four.

“I’m con dent in Noah Wicks,” Golden coach Jackie McBroom said when asked how con dent he was going into the elimination game against Riverdale Ridge. “We have a good team and with Noah on the mound you have a good shot.”

Wicks was brilliant on the mound going 6 and 2/3 innings, allowing just a single run on four hits. e 4A Je co League MVP struck out his 10th batter for the second out in the top of the seventh inning. It was Wicks’s 111th pitch so he had to be taking out due to hitting his pitch limit of 110 pitches.

Senior Daine Hart switched positions in the eld as Wicks went to second base. Hart struck out Riverdale Ridge senior Austin Williams for the nal out to punch the Demons’ ticket to join Lutheran (17-10-1), Holy

Family (23-3) and Severance (22-6) into the Final Four that will be played Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, at UCHealth Park in Colorado Springs.

“It was an elimination game obviously, I wanted to come out and do the best I could do for the team so we could win and advance to the Final

Four,” Wicks said. “Our team just played great together. I’m very proud of all of us.” e loss to Holy Family forced Golden into the must-win situation Saturday.

Wicks was the Demons’ starter behind the plate in a 9-0 victory over Summit and a 8-5 loss to Holy Family on Friday in the opening two rounds.

“Noah is our guy,” McBroom said. “We love all our guys, but on the bump and at the plate he can do it all. at is why when he is on the bump and swinging the bat you have a good chance of winning the baseball game against anyone.” e Ravens actually took a 1-0 lead with a 2-out, 2-strike solo home run by junior Josh Weber that just cleared the fence in left eld. e wind has just picked up blowing out to left that aided the home run. e Demons scored a pair of runs in the fth inning to take a 3-1 lead. Wicks delivered at the plate with a 2-run triple. Golden then put a 5-spot up in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend the lead to 8-1.

However, Golden answered with a 2-out RBI hit by Hart in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie things up 1-1. Wicks retired the Ravens in order in the fth and six innings as the Demons’ o ense started to heat up.