Gaston College stays unbeaten with impressive home win
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
|
Gaston College | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | X | 12 | 11 | 1 |
Gaston College had arguably its most impressive effort of a young baseball season that has already seen a few on Wednesday at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park.
The Rhinos improved to 5-0 this year with a 12-1 victory over Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute in a game stopped after the top of the seventh inning by the 10-run mercy rule.
It was Gaston College's second win this season over the Cobras, who were ranked No. 9 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III preseason poll; The Rhinos opened their first season in 50 years on Feb. 2 with an 8-3 win at Caldwell.
"I was a little bit worried today after the week we just had," said Gaston College head coach Shohn Doty, whose NJCAA Division II team also swept a home doubleheader over Surry Community College on Feb. 5 and rallied from behind to win at NJCAA Division I power Spartanburg Methodist 8-7 on Feb. 6 in the opening week of the year. "But we were very mature and had a really professional approach out there."
The Rhinos' 11-hit offense produced five runs in the first inning, three in the second and two runs in the fifth and sixth. Trenton Snyder had three hits and seven RBIs which included a grand slam home run in the first and two-run home run in the sixth. Chandler Riley (two hits, three RBIs, double, home run), Ahmir Cournier (two hits, two RBIs, double), J.D. Yakubinis (two hits), Konni Durschlag (one hit, two walks, three runs) and Pierson Gunnell (one walk, two hit by pitch, two runs) were other individual standouts.
On the mound, Gaston College starter and winner Marlowe Iorio went five innings with five strikeouts and yielded six hits and one run. Relievers Arnav Ghuliani and Alex Hall pitched one inning apiece and each had two strikeouts.
"Marlowe really settled in after the second inning and offensively we were on point from the first pitch with Trenton Snyder having the kind of day you dream about," Doty said.
Gaston College next plays its first Region 10 Division II series at Wake Tech this weekend; The Rhinos play a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday and a single contest at noon on Sunday.