Golden baseball grinding to a 5th straight Jeffco League title
GOLDEN — School is out for summer for Golden’s senior baseball players with Thursday being the last day of classes, but that doesn’t mean the focus has left the field.
“Summer is my least focused right now,” Golden senior pitcher Taden Svendsen said. “I am really focused on trying to get our goal which is a state championship. We have been so close that last few years. This is a good year to do it.”
Golden (18-3, 7-0 in Class 4A Jeffco League) has been locked in on the diamond over the last month with a 13-game winning streak. The Demons’ latest victory was a 6-2 workman-like home victory against Conifer on Thursday.
“It’s the time of the year where it is the grind,” Golden coach Jackie McBroom said. “We have had a good season, but you still have to finish it. We are going to be in the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean we just put it on cruise. We still have things that we want to achieve.”
Golden in driving toward a historic fifth consecutive Jeffco League title. The only other Jeffco baseball program ever to win five straight is Arvada West from 1992 to 1996. Either a win at Green Mountain on Friday or win in Golden’s regular-season finale Saturday against Dakota Ridge would clinch a fifth straight league title.
“We have had a great season so far,” Svendsen said as the Demons’ approach history in winning five straight conference titles. “We want to close it out with two more wins. The teams coming up are pretty tough. We need to dial in.”
The Demons put themselves on the brink of history with a little bit of a comeback victory against a scrappy Conifer squad that has solid league wins over Green Mountain and Standley Lake this season.
The Lobos (9-12, 4-3) took a 1-0 lead with an RBI single by junior Dillon Tracy in the top of the third inning off Svendsen.
Golden did respond with a 3-run bottom of the third inning to take the lead. The Demons started a 2-out rally. Sophomore Liam Leffert laced a 2-run single up the middle and junior Charlie Thompson added an RBI single to give Golden a 3-1 lead.
Conifer made things interesting when senior Mason Murphy belted a solo home run to start the top of the fifth inning to make it a 1-run game. However, the Demons answered again with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth by junior Brody McBroom.
“That felt really good. My first at-bat was really bad,” Brody McBroom said. “I just found my pitch, hit it and it went over the fence.”
Svendsen was able to work around a 2-out double by Conifer junior Brandon Roe in the sixth inning. The lefty pitcher finished with eight strikeouts over his six innings pitched.
“When Brody hit that home run it was great to see that,” Svendsen said. “To have a bit more of a lead does make it a little more comfortable pitching.”
Golden added on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior Gunnar Hetrick took the hill for the Demons in the top of the seventh inning and proceeded to strikeout the side on a dozen pitches.
“I was excited for him (Hetrick) to have three Ks out of nowhere. That was great,” Svendsen said. “I think he is definitely a sleeper pitcher. I think he has a great future as a pitcher. He looks pretty good out there.”
Svendsen picked up his fifth victory on the season and lowered his ERA to 3.0.
“When you are playing three games in three days you are going to have to rely on guys who have pitched a minimum amount of innings,” Coach McBroom said. “You just hope they are ready and they step up to the challenge. I believe they will do that.”
The Demons do have ace Sawyer Brinkman (7-0 record and 1.14 ERA) ready to start either Friday at Green Mountain or Saturday at home against Dakota Ridge. Senior Austin Maleki has been a strong third starter on the mound for Golden with a 4-1 record and 1.93 ERA.
