Gaston Baseball Coach Shohn Doty — Gaston College coach Shohn Doty's baseball team is 18-0 and ranked No. 10 in the NJCAA poll. It's the first time in school history Gaston College has been ranked in a NJCAA poll.

Posted: Mar 07, 2022

Unbeaten Gaston College baseball team makes more school history with NJCAA national ranking

A week after making school history as the first Gaston College athletic team to earn a national ranking of any kind, the Rhinos' baseball team made some more on Monday when they were ranked No. 10 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II poll.

Gaston College (18-0) is one of three unbeaten teams in the poll and has the second-highest number of victories in the poll - trailing only No. 1 LSU-Eunice (19-3).

"It's great publicity for the school," said Rhinos coach Shohn Doty, whose team was ranked No. 8 by www.thejbb.net last week for the school's first ranking of any kind. "Obviously, getting a ranking in any poll is special. And being among the top 10 teams in the country says a lot about our guys."

Gaston College has gained its national ranking with a collective .336 team batting average, 69 extra base hits and 78 stolen bases on offense and a collective 3.43 ERA with 171 strikeouts in 126 innings on the mound in its 18 games.

The Rhinos play again on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park against perennial NJCAA Division I power Louisburg.

Leading Gaston College's offense so far this season has been Chandler Riley (.468 average, 11 doubles, 3 home runs, 19 RBIs, 18 stolen bases), Pierson Gunnell (.444 average, 5 doubles, 1 home run, 15 RBIs), J.D. Yakubinis (.371 average, 5 doubles, 3 home runs, 28 RBIs), Ahmir Cournier (.368 average, 4 doubles, 22 RBIs, 10 stolen bases), Konni Durschlag (.361 average, 8 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs, 21 RBIs), Trenton Snyder (.316 average, 2 doubles, 4 home runs, 20 RBIs), Enrique Wood (.306 average, 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 8 RBIs) and Wade Kelly (.300 average, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 15 RBIs, 16 stolen bases).

Leading the Rhinos' pitching staff has been Zach Zedalis (4-0 record, 2.08 ERA, 26 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings), Marlowe Iorio (3-0 record, 4.20 ERA, 18 strikeouts in 15 innings), J.D. Everett (3-0 record, 4.94 ERA, 28 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings), Tyler Parks (3-0 record, 7.47 ERA, 26 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings) and Gus Hughes (2-0 record, 0.56 ERA, 19 strikeouts in 16 innings).

"It's a good feeling to be ranked," Doty said. "The challenge now is to stay there and keep moving up. And we've got two tough opponents (Louisburg and Catawba Valley Community College) that will push us this week and give us opportunities to keep improving."