GOLDEN — It felt more like football weather Tuesday at Golden High School with temperatures in the 40s and a gusty north wind.
The scoreboard mirrored a football game too with the Demons putting up a pair of touchdowns — 14 runs — in a statement victory to open up Class 4A Jeffco League play against D’Evelyn. Golden — No. 5 in the CHSAANow.com 4A rankings — blitzed the Jaguars in a 14-4 victory that was stopped in the bottom of the sixth inning due to the 10-run mercy rule.
It was the third straight win for the Demons.
Golden senior pitcher Ethan Lewis — Yale University commit — pitched a complete-game victory on the mound while the offense got going early. Golden junior Hayden Carbone hit a home run to dead centerfield to start the bottom of the first inning.
“I thought Ethan came up ready to play baseball and it doesn’t hurt when you lead-off guy (Carbone) hits a home run,” Golden coach Jackie McBroom said of what he liked during the blustery late-afternoon game. “(D’Evelyn) got a run in the first and I was a little disappointed because we gave it to them. We countered with three runs (bottom of the first). I was happy with how we responded.”
D’Evelyn (1-5, 0-1 in league) put up solo runs in each of the first four innings and trailed just 5-4 in the top of the fourth inning after freshman Blake Young hit a solo home run off Lewis to start the inning.
However, Golden (5-3, 1-0) answered with a two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning stealing a couple of runs with runners at the corners to grab a 7-4 lead. The Demons exploded with a 5-run bottom of the fifth inning to open out a 12-4 lead taking advantage of a pair of Jaguar errors in the inning.
“It was the little things,” D’Evelyn coach Dan Porreco said. “Golden capitalized on those little things. Our errors and not catching balls.”
Golden put the game away with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Senior Toby Trujillo scored from third base with two outs on D’Evelyn’s third error of the game to end it.
“We call it pressure baseball,” McBroom said of taking advantage of walks and miscues by their opponent. “We want to put pressure on the other team and take advantage of their mistakes. We did that today.”
D’Evelyn senior pitcher Troy Benko took the loss despite striking out eight batters in his 4 and 2/3 innings of work. The Jaguars had nine hits, but never had a multiple-run inning of Lewis who finished with eight strikeouts.
“I don’t expect him (Lewis) to shut everyone out, but he gives us a chance to win,” McBroom said of Lewis who is 2-0 in his last two starts against quality teams in No. 8 Falcon and D’Evelyn. “We have to play good baseball behind him. We made some mistakes, but when we needed to make a play we made the play.”
Golden had five players — Trujillo, Carbone, Xavier Nuss, Braeden McCarroll and Noah Wicks — with multiple-hit games as the Demons finished with 13 hits. Wicks led the way with three hits and a trio of RBIs.
“Our whole line-up is great,” Wicks said. “When I come up to the plate I just want to do damage and help out the team in some way.”
It was the first of a 16-game conference run over the next seven weeks for teams in the 4A Jeffco League.
“It was a big win,” Wicks said. “D’Evelyn is a top program.”
D’Evelyn will get another crack against Golden when the Demons head to the Jaguars’ home field for a league game at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 7.
“I’m just looking forward to facing them again,” Wicks said. “They are a top opponent.”
Porreco knows the Jaguars must turn things around in a hurry if D’Evelyn hopes to make a return trip to the 8-team 4A state tournament were the Jaguars advanced to the semifinals last season.
“We are not playing near to what our potential is,” Porreco said after the Jaguars lost their fifth straight game. “We have a lot of work to do.”