GOLDEN — It didn’t look good for Golden’s baseball team Thursday afternoon.
The Demons — No. 7 in the Class 4A CHSAANow.com rankings — were not only trailing 4A Jeffco rival Evergreen 4-0 going to the bottom of the sixth inning, but Evergreen ace Carson King was throwing a no-hitter against Golden.
Golden (8-4, 4-1 in 4A Jeffco) flipped the offensive switch in the bottom of the sixth, scoring nine runs on seven hits to pull off a remarkable 9-4 come-from-behind victory against the Cougars (7-3, 4-1).
“It was a much better approach at the plate then the first couple of times through,” Golden coach Jackie McBroom said of the 9-run inning where the Demons sent a dozen batters to the plate. “Very proud of the bottom of the order. Their job is to get on base and in situations like that being down 4-0 we need base runners.”
Freshman Jaydon Stroup and junior Xavier Nuss — No. 8 and No. 9 hole hitters — got things started for the Demons. Stroup served a 2-strike single into right field to break up the no-hit bid by King.
“I just had to get the ball into play,” Stroup said of his 2-strike approach to leadoff the sixth inning. “He (King) threw a great game for five innings. The curveball was working really well for him.”
Nuss and junior Hayden Carbone both singled to load the bases. Sophomore Kohei Shimada’s chopper to third base scored Stroup for the first Demon run. Sophomore Braeden McCarroll ripped an RBI single to left to make it a 4-2 game.
Then the flood gates opened.
“The guys came up in the middle of the order and did what they are supposed to do,” McBroom said.
Junior Noah Wicks broke out of a mini-slump with a 2-run double to right field, tying the game at 4-4. Junior Jaydon Hord got ahold of a curveball that he deposited over the centerfield fence for a 3-run home run.
“We knew he (King) was going to keep throwing that curveball,” Hord said. “Everyone kind of caught on. The energy was electric. Everyone was in it. We knew we had a chance and thought we were the better team.”
Stroup drove in senior Toby Trujillo with an RBI single with his second hit in the inning. The Demons’ lone freshman on the varsity roster this season was also making his first start at shortstop. Stroup had mainly started at second base, but switched up with Shimada defensively against Evergreen.
“I was,” Stroup said when asked if he was surprised getting his first varsity start at shortstop. “I was definitely surprised to see my name up there. I did what I had to do to help get the team a win.”
Golden senior pitcher Ethan Lewis pitched a complete-game victory. Lewis had allowed a baserunner in every inning, but he was efficient in the top of the seventh inning retiring the Cougars in order.
The Demons travel to Evergreen High School on Saturday for the second game of the home-and-away league games against the Cougars.
“We control our destiny,” McBroom said of the league title. “This is a great win. We’ll enjoy it tonight and get back to work tomorrow. Splitting isn’t what we are looking to do. We want to go up to Evergreen on Saturday and bring home another W.”
Golden got the home win last week against D’Evelyn before having to settle with a split after the Jaguars handed the Demons their first league loss.
“We have to ride the momentum onto Saturday. Don’t get comfortable,” Stroup said. “Evergreen is a good team. We have to come out ready to play.”
The Cougars scored a pair of runs in the fifth and sixth to build up a 4-0 lead. Senior Dylan Schiro 2-run, 2-out single up the middle gave Evergreen a 2-0 lead. Senior Ethan Foreman had an RBI single in the sixth and then scored on a throwing error by Lewis on a pickoff attempt to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead.