Late addition to roster sets history, has emerged as Gaston College's pitching ace

Gus Hughes may have been one of the last players added to the 2022 Gaston College baseball roster. But the hard-throwing right-handed pitcher from Greensboro set a program milestone that can never be matched.

Hughes is the probable starter for the Rhinos (27-2) in the first game of Saturday's 2 p.m. National Junior College Athletic Association Region 10 Division II doubleheader against Patrick & Henry Community College at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.

The teams are at the top of the Western Division standings, with Gaston College (17-1 division) comfortably ahead of second-place Patrick & Henry (18-11, 11-5); The Rhinos swept a three-game series at Patrick & Henry on Feb. 19-20.

Hughes will he hard-pressed to improve upon his last outing when he threw Gaston College's first no-hitter, struck out 14 batters and retired the last 17 batters he faced in last Saturday's 9-0 win over Wake Tech.

"It was awesome," Hughes said of the performance that came in the first game of a three-game sweep. "To open up the stadium and have a ribbon-cutting ceremony and throw a no-hitter in the first game is special. It fires the crowd up and fires the team up for a doubleheader."

Perhaps because of all the distractions of the Rhinos' official re-opening ceremonies of a facility that first opened in 1950, Hughes admitted afterward that his pregame preparation gave little indication he would be setting history.

"Honestly, my pregame bullpen was pretty bad," Hughes said. "It was all over the place. But then after the second or third inning, I feel like I got locked in."

Hughes said his ability to locate his fastball was critical and while he got 14 of the 21 outs on strikeouts, his other seven outs came on three grounders, two infield pop-ups and two fly balls.

His success at Gaston College comes after he battled adversity just to play for the team.

A mid-year transfer from UNC Charlotte, Hughes was sidelined for three weeks in January by a bout with mononucleosis before slowly rounding into form.

"I couldn't do anything," said Hughes, who had a 3-0 record and 3.60 ERA in 14 appearances last season for the Charlotte 49ers. "So it took me a couple of outings to get back and get my strength back up."

After relief efforts of two innings at Wake Tech on Feb. 13 and three innings at Patrick & Henry on Feb. 20, an elbow injury to another Charlotte transfer created a spot for Hughes in the three-man conference weekend starting rotation.

Zach Zedalis, who had signed with South Carolina last fall, needed elbow surgery after going 6 1-3 innings in a Feb. 19 start at Patrick & Henry that improved his record to 4-0 for the Rhinos.

"Zach getting hurt was tough," Hughes said. "I think we could've been a good 1-2 punch. With him being injured, I was able to come into his spot and I've enjoyed doing it."

Hughes has won four of his five starts and left the only non-decision he had with the game tied 2-all.

In seven appearances (five starts) this season, Hughes is 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA. He has struck out 49 batters and yielded 21 hits and eight walks in 34 innings pitched. His ERA is second-lowest in Division II of Region 10.

"He's been a workhorse for our pitching staff," Gaston College coach Shohn Doty said. "He's really done well in that No. 1 position in our weekend rotation and has been key to giving us a good start in our series."