BASEBALL

“I was impressed to see that,” McBroom said of the Demons combining for seven runs in the fth and sixth innings. “For the rst half of the game we struggled a little bit. We had some opportunities, but didn’t get the hits. A lot of resilience.”

Golden senior Xavier Nuss got it all going with a double to lead o the fth inning before the triple by Wicks. Nuss also doubled in the sixth inning where Golden scored all ve runs with two outs.

“Most of the season I’ve been in my head and hasn’t been as good as I thought I could,” said Nuss, who batted in the No. 9-hole against Riverdale Ridge. “ ese games I just stepped up. I wanted to go out there and just swing the bat. I wanted to get some hits for my team.”

Nuss was 7-for-11 from the plate in the three state playo games in Colorado Springs.

“ at is the best three games Xavier has had all season,” McBroom said of his senior out elder. “He had a great year last year. He has struggled a little bit this year, but he stepped up when all day. So, he said, the U.S. Open quali ers is about “making a con- we needed it.”

Fittingly, Wicks delivered the nal blow o ensively with a 3-run home run to cap o the 5-run sixth inning. e wind blowing out to left eld helped Wicks get a little revenge on the wind aided home run he gave up earlier in the game.

“It felt good,” Wicks said of his 3-run home runs. “I was just trying to score people in and get more insurance runs. It helped hitting the home run.” No. 4-seeded Golden returns to Colorado Springs for another elimination game against No. 9 Lutheran at 10 a.m. Friday, June 2, at the home of the Rocky Mountain Vibes of the Pioneer scious e ort to be mentally strong, because a lot of guys are going to give up and knock themselves out of the tournament.”

During his time at Mines, Markham helped lead the Orediggers to three RMAC championships and three NCAA Super Regionals appearances between 2017-2019.

Among his individual accolades and accomplishments, he quali ed for the NCAA championships in 2018, was the 2019 RMAC Golfer of the Year, and received All-American honors in 2018 and 2019.

Outside of Mines competition, he won the Arizona Golf Association Championship as an amateur in March 2019.

Overall, Markham was excited to have a shot at making the U.S. Open, saying of the local qualifying rounds, “I’ve always thought it was one of the coolest things of the year — just how anyone can get through.” e winner of Lutheran/Golden will play No. 1 Holy Family at 12:30 p.m. Friday. No. 6 Severance is in the driver’s seat with whoever makes it through to Saturday will have to defeat the Silver Knights twice at UCHealth Park.

For more information, visit 2022. usopen.com/qualifying/ nal.html.

Baseball League.

“We are so close as a team,” Nuss said. “We are all brothers. We are a family here. It is so awesome to keep going with these guys.”

Dennis Pleuss is the sports information director for Je co Public Schools. For more Je co coverage, go to CHSAANow.com.