Gaston College's near no-hitters of the past: One by the school's only professional draft pick, the other by a longtime local high school coach
When Gus Hughes threw a no-hitter in Gaston College's grand re-opening of Sims Legion Park on Saturday, it was the first such pitching effort in the school's long athletic history.
When Gaston College had its first five teams from 1968 to 1972, two pitchers had 1-hitters that were extraordinarily close to no-hitters.
They came in 1971 and 1972.
The first pitcher, Alan Lindsay, also is the only minor league product in school history as he pitched for the Houston Astros' Florida East Coast Rookie League in 1973 after signing a free agent contract with that franchise. A 1969 Cherryville High School graduate, Lindsay was previously drafted by the Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates after those organizations selected him in the 1969 and 1970 drafts, respectively.
The second pitcher, Ken Beaty, pitched the last previous team in Gaston College history to a North Carolina Community College conference title in the school's last game before this season. A 1970 graduate of Gastonia's old Ashley High School, Beaty was eventually a championship-winning coach at Lowell's Holbrook Junior High School and Gastonia's Forestview High School.
Lindsay's near no-hitter came in a 9-0, 7-inning win over Surry Community College on April 29, 1971 that completed a doubleheader sweep.
It also was part of the third of four straight N.C. Community College Conference championships and the winningest (22-10 overall and 11-0 in conference) team in school history before this season.
"I always had a good time and we had good teams," said Lindsay, who eventually became a longtime truck driver for Cherryville's Carolina Freight Company. "The best thing for me was I almost had a no-hitter. But with one out to go, they blooped a little pop up into right field. The second baseman ran and ran and couldn't get to it and the right fielder was too far back.
"I made a bad pitch is what I would say."
Lindsay had a two-year 10-4 pitching record with nearly 200 strikeouts for coach Dean Burroughs' 1970 and 1971 Gaston College teams and earned all-conference recognition both years in addition to leading the school to back-to-back league titles.
Beaty's near no-hitter came on April 14, 1972 when he retired the first 14 batters of a 12-0, 5-inning victory before yielding a hit to finish with a 1-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader sweep of Lenoir Community College.
"We hit so well that day that we only needed five innings," said Beaty, who guided Holbrook to eight county titles and Forestview to four state titles as a head coach. "My best memory was winning that state title. We had to go to Whiteville (to play Southeastern Community College) and they had to beat us twice and we only had to win once. I remember telling coach Burroughs that I could play in the first game but I couldn't play in the second game because I had to be back in Gastonia that night. He said, 'If we win the first one, we don't have to play the second one.'"
That's exactly what happened in a May 13, 1972 contest that proved to be Gaston College's final sporting event until the fall of 2021 after the school announced nine days later it was discontinuing athletics.
Gaston College rallied to beat Southeastern 3-2 with a two-run seventh inning before wriggling out of a jam with a game-ending double play.
"They had the tying on third base with one out and they tried to squeeze him in and, on the play, the guy struck out and then we got the guy out at third to end the game," Beaty said.
Beaty scored the winning run on Sammy Baird's RBI single in the seventh, then struck out a Southeastern batter attempting a squeeze bunt before catcher Sam Rumfelt fired the ball to third baseman Mike Hoover to complete the double play in the bottom of the seventh inning; Baird was from Clover, S.C., and Rumfelt and Hoover were from Belmont.
As a head coach, Beaty coached for eventual major leaguer Wes Helms (now Charlotte Knights manager) at Holbrook and for eventual college basketball standouts Kelsey Harris (Elon) and Shannon Smith (Michigan) and current PGA golfer Harold Varner III at Forestview.