COLORADO SPRINGS — It’s been 20 years since Mark Melancon struck out the final batter at All-City Field in Denver to give Golden its first state baseball championship.
The senior-laded squad led by Melancon beat defending Class 4A state champion Mountain View twice on May 17, 2003 to end a magical season for the Demons. Chad Sigg had a front-row seat 20 years ago as an assistant coach on head coach Brad Madden’s staff.
“They remind me a lot of each other,” said Sigg after the 2023 Demons’ baseball squad advanced to the Final Four this upcoming weekend with a 8-1 win over Riverdale Ridge. “We had athletes back then. We had Mark Melancon, Luke Roberts — who were cousins — and Troy Spahn all played football, basketball and baseball. It’s the same with this group. A lot of athletes.”
Sigg joined Golden’s current coaching staff last year. The Arvada West graduate was the starting catcher on A-West’s 1994 state championship team. He was an assistant coach for not only Golden’s 2003 state title team, but also on Green Mountain’s 2014 and 2015 4A state championship teams.
“Chad has been in the front row seat for a lot of them,” current Golden head baseball coach Jackie McBroom said of his assistant coach. “He has a little experience with this. It’s definitely nice to have him in the dugout because he has been there and done that a few times already.”
Sigg sees a lot of similar traits between the 2003 and 2023 squads.
“They just have that bulldog mentality. That bulldog attitude,” Sigg said. “This group reminds me a lot of that 2003 team.”
Twenty years ago, Madden’s crew had to win three straight games to win the state title. It’s a similar situation for Golden coming up Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, at UCHealth Park in Colorado Springs. The Demons could face four elimination games.
Golden will need to defeat Lutheran and Holy Family on Friday to have a chance of repeating history. The Demons would have to take a pair of games against Severance on Saturday in Colorado Springs to win their first baseball title in 20 years.
“We talk about,” McBroom said of the 2003 state championship team. “We aren’t counting our chickens before they hatch. Legacy and the mark you leave behind is a big deal to us. We talk about the guys who came before us.”
Melancon has made his mark with 262 saves during his 15 years Major League Baseball pitching career. The three-sport athlete at Golden has pitched for nine different MLB teams and is a four-time National League All-Star. He is currently on the Injured List with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The NL saves leader in 2015 and 2021 hasn’t forgot about his alma mater.
“It’s nice at our school that alumni reach out to us,” McBroom said. “Mark Melancon reached out to them this week. He said go win one and put a banner up in the gym. That means a lot.”
Golden’s current pitching staff is anchored by ace Laif Palmer, senior Noah Wicks and junior Braeden McCarroll.
Palmer has signed to play for Oregon State, but could get his name called during the MLB Draft coming up in July. Palmer threw a complete-game shutout in Golden’s state playoff opener against Summit. Wicks gave up just one run in the Demons’ 8-1 win over Riverdale Ridge to advance Golden to the Final Four.
“You have to be deep and that is what we are,” Sigg said of Golden’s pitching staff. “We are deep with athletes and pitchers. We have some young guys who haven’t thrown a lot, but we have all the confidence in the world in them.”
After Palmer, Wicks and McCarroll… the Demons will work in the likes of senior Daine Hart, juniors Jacob Dehm, Kohei Shimada, along with sophomores Sawyer Brinkman and Jaden Svendsen in an attempt to win four games in two days.
“If you are going to go all the way next weekend and beat (Severance) twice we’ll be playing four games next weekend,” Sigg said. “You have to have that fourth starter. We haven’t figured out who that will be, but I think we have that guy.”