Golden baseball finishes historic season as 4A state runner-up

Dennis Pleuss
Posted 6/5/23

It wasn’t the hardware Golden’s baseball program wanted to drive home with June 3, but a Class 4A state runner-up trophy is one that should be proudly displayed forever at Golden High School.

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Golden baseball finishes historic season as 4A state runner-up

Posted

It wasn’t the hardware Golden’s baseball program wanted to drive home with June 3, but a Class 4A state runner-up trophy is one that should be proudly displayed forever at Golden High School.

“It’s only the third time we’ve been here in the school’s history and first time in 20 years,” Golden coach Jackie McBroom said of the Demons making the state championship game at Rawlings Field in Pueblo against Severance. “It is definitely an accomplishment.”

In the end, the No. 6-seeded Silver Knights of Severance took a 1-0 victory over No. 4 Golden to win the school’s first ever state team title. The lone run was scored in the top of the second inning when Severance senior Joe Tamburro scored on a pitch that got away from Golden senior catch Noah Wicks.

“I’m proud of everyone. We just played great team baseball,” Wicks said. “We knew what we were going into. We knew we had a great team. We made the championship game which was our goal. Sadly, we didn’t win, but we had a great season. I’m proud of everyone.”

Golden (25-6 record) had a difficult road to the championship game. After a solid 9-0 shutout victory over Summit during the opening round of the double-elimination state tournament May 26, the No. 4-seeded Demons suffered an 8-5 loss that same day to top-seeded Holy Family, sending Golden into the consolation bracket.

The uphill battle begun.

Golden stayed alive with a 8-1 victory over Riverdale Ridge on May 27 at Mountain Lion Stadium at UCCS to advance to the Final Four last weekend.

Seniors Laif Palmer and Wicks — who got the wins on the mound against Summit and Riverdale Ridge — both had brilliant pitching performances Friday, June 2, at UCHealth Park in Colorado Springs.

Palmer had 13 strikeouts in a 3-2 victory over Lutheran. It would be the final game the hard-throwing righty would pitch in a Demon uniform. Palmer has committed to Oregon State University, but will likely get selected in the Major League Baseball Draft coming up in early July to give him the option to turn pro.

“I’m proud of every single one of these guys,” Palmer said. “The whole year all of them played their hearts out. I love all these guys. It just sucks it had to end this way, but we had one hell of a season.”

Wicks not only came in to get the final out against the Lions when Palmer hit his 110-pitch count, Wicks threw a complete-game 3-hitter against Holy Family in a 4-1 Golden win Friday afternoon.

The victories June 2 sent Golden into Saturday’s situation to be in the championship game against Severance. The Silver Knights had the luxury of advancing straight to the title game after a 3-0 start to the tournament that included wins over Cheyenne Mountain, Pueblo County and Holy Family the pervious week.

Golden junior pitcher Braeden McCarroll was equally up the task Saturday against Severance with Palmer and Wicks not in the mix to pitch after combining for 200 pitches on the hill Friday. The junior matched Severance ace Mason Bright to keep the Demons within reach.

“Braeden gave us a chance to win,” McBroom said. “He did just as good as (Palmer and Wicks) did. Give credit to their pitcher (Bright), but we needed to do better and scratching a run across.”

Bright was on top of his game on the mound throwing a complete-game shutout victory. Severance’s ace had only given up three singles — a pair by Wicks and one by sophomore Jaydon Stroup — through six innings.

Bright had only thrown 79 pitches going to the bottom of the seventh inning, but a leadoff triple by McCarroll give the Demons the opportunity to send the game into extra innings.

“He (Bright) is a very even-knelled kid,” Severance coach Kevin Johnson said of the senior that nearly threw 80 innings for the Silver Knights this season with an ERA below 2.00. “He made good pitches to get the strikeout and then the fly out.”

Golden junior Noah Welte pinch-hit with no outs, but struck out. Senior Daine Hart hit a fly ball to left field. Severance left fielder Brycen Farris made the catch and fired to third baseman Noah Hertzke. Silver Knight catcher Angie Dominguez caught the throw from Hertzke and put down the tag on Golden sophomore Andrew Romero, who came in to pinch-run for McCarroll.

The home-plate umpire called Romero out on the close play at the plate for the final out of the game.

“I actually threw it and thought we had one more out to go,” Farris said of his game-winning assist. “I was celebrating in the outfield thinking we had just got the second out and then I saw the dogpile and ran in. It’s surreal. It really is.”

Bright picked up his 12th victory of the season while relying on the stellar defense behind him that didn’t commit an error in the 12th straight victory for the Silver Knights (23-6) to end the season.

“Brycen had a wonderful throw from the outfield that won us that game,” Bright said. “I’m very thankful for that.”

Golden had five baserunners in scoring position during the game, but couldn’t push a run across the plate.

“It was a bang-bang play at the plate. That’s just how it works out sometimes,” McBroom said of the final play.

Severance High School opened its doors in August of 2019. The Silver Knights faced Golden High School, which is the oldest continuously operating high school in Colorado having opened in 1873…150 years ago.

“We just started this school four years ago,” Bright said. “I’m on top of the world right now.”

The 4A state championship game was scheduled to be played at 10 a.m. Saturday at UCHealth Park in Colorado Springs. The decision was made round 9 a.m. that the field in Colorado Springs was unplayable due to wet conditions, so the game was moved to a 3 p.m. in Pueblo after the 2A state championship game.

“Both teams played very well. It was four hits to four hits. It was a very even ballgame,” Johnson said. “Both kids pitched their behinds off.”

McCarroll will likely step into the roll of the Demons’ top pitcher next season with the graduation of Palmer and Wicks.

“I just want to tell Braeden to keep doing what he is doing,” Wicks said. “He is a great baseball player. A great pitcher and honestly, a very good dude overall.”

Golden graduated seven seniors — Palmer, Wicks, Hart, Jaydon Hord, Hayden Carbone, Xavier Nuss and Jonathan Cochenour —that helped lead the Demons to a third straight 4A Jeffco League title along with the deepest playoff run since Golden won the 4A state title back in 2003.

“I think we set the tone for the next few seasons,” Palmer said. “We are a winning program. This should set the bar. We’ve got great coaching and great kids coming through the program. I think everyone is a gritty player and plays their heart out.”

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

golden high school, baseball, class 4a, runner up, prep sports, jeffco public schools,

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