Gaston College celebrates "Sophomore Day" before Sunday loss to Region 10 Division I champion
| Final (10) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Florence-Darlington Technical College | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 14 | 1 |
|
Gaston College | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 4 | 10 | 2 |
On a day the first-year Gaston College baseball program honored 10 pioneer players, not even a 10-4 loss to Region 10 Division I champion Florence-Darlington Tech could dampen the spirits of the nationally-ranked Division II Rhinos.
"I'm super proud of our guys and not going to let anything that happened today detract from that and the season that we're having," said Gaston College coach Shohn Doty, whose 40-9 team is ranked No. 3 in all three National Junior College Athletic Association polls. "We've got one game to go and we want to finish it the right way. I know we're out of gas but we're going to try find something in the tank to play Sumter on Tuesday."
That Tuesday non-conference finale at 3 p.m. at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park against USC Sumter will close the school's first baseball season in 50 years as Region 10 Division II West Division champions.
Before Sunday's game, 10 sophomores playing their only season for the Rhinos were honored - third baseman Chandler Riley, first baseman Ahmir Cournier, catcher Patrick Hogan, infielder Logan Rose and pitchers Christian Baker, Alex Hall, Gus Hughes, Marlowe Iorio, Hayden Myrick and Zach Zedalis.
"I'm really proud of the sophomores we recognized and all that they've achieved," Doty said. "We've played a great schedule and whether we finish 41-9 or 40-10, we've had a helluva year. And those 10 guys made it happen."
In Sunday's games, hard-luck loser Hughes went four innings with four strikeouts, six hits, three runs (one earned) before a lightning delay in the bottom of the fourth led to his removal.
Riley (two hits, one RBI), Wade Kelly (two hits, two RBIs) and J.D. Yakubinis (two hits) led a 10-hit offense against the Stingers, who improved to 43-11 in their regular season finale as they prepare for the Region 10 Division I tournament that starts on Friday.
"They've got a really good team and they set the standard for what we want to be," Doty said of Florence-Darlington Tech.
