2021-22 REVIEW: Part 3 of "Championship team" - Standard set high by title and future looks bright for Rhinos

When Gaston College's baseball team entered its 2022 season, it was coming off the momentum of a strong 2021 fall season and had set unprecedented goals for a first-year program.

After going 41-9 overall, 30-6 in Region 10 division play and earning top 3 national rankings in all three National Junior College Athletic Association polls, the Rhinos will enter next season with the pressure that comes with trying to repeat as a champion.

"We definitely set the standard super high this year," said shortstop Enrique Wood, who is one of several expected returnees for the 2023 team. "I think, coming back next year, we need to keep doing what we're doing and win 40 games and continue to grow."

Gaston College coach Shohn Doty knows the team lost some significant players, most notably Division I signees Christian Baker (High Point), Gus Hughes (High Point), Chandler Riley (Campbell) and Zach Zedalis (South Carolina) and Division II signees Ahmir Cournier (Young Harris), Hayden Myrick (Mount Olive) and Patrick Hogan (Catawba).

"It's difficult to lose those type of players," Doty said. "But we still have a lot of production and experience coming back."

Plus, based on the player development Doty and assistant coaches Jacob Rand and K.J. McAllister preach, there also will be some improvement shown by the returning players.

Six of the top eight hitters are slated to return in outfielder-pitcher Konni Durschlag (.396 average), designated hitter J.D. Yakubinis (.341), outfielder Wade Kelly (.331), catcher Pierson Gunnell (.302), second baseman Miller St. John (.289) and outfielder Trenton Snyder (.278).

And seven of the 11 most frequently used pitchers are slated to return, among them J.D. Everett (7-0 record, 4.22 ERA), Hunter Shew (3-2 record with one save, 3.72 ERA), David Sande (3-0 record, 4.10 ERA), Tyler Parks (3-0 record, 6.62 ERA) and Durschlag (1-1 record with five saves, 2.95 ERA).

Doty thinks the team will gain a great deal of confidence from winning the Region 10 Division II West regular season title and earning a national ranking from March 1 to the end of the season; The Rhinos were ranked as high as No. 2 before finishing No. 5 (www.thejbb.net, PBR JUCO) and No. 12 (NJCAA) in the final regular season polls.

He also noted that with that confidence came some responsibility.

"I think the road sweep at Patrick & Henry kind of put the region on notice so to speak," Doty said of his team's Feb. 19-20 sweep of the 2021 4th-place NJCAA World Series finisher. "After that, our guys could sense that these teams were approaching us a little differently.
"You can talk to guys about that all you want, but when you go from being the start-up team and a feel-good story and, all of a sudden, you're everybody's biggest game on the schedule.
"Until you experience it first hand, you don't know what it's like. Our guys could sense the other teams' energy level going up whenever we came to town and when they came to our place. And we had to learn how to match that energy."

Gaston College's success came in a year in which it started the season without a true home.

While the Rhinos were able to practice and play at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park that is home to the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, they had to wait until late March before it could claim its permanent home of Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.

"We did a good job of rising to the challenges we faced all year long," Doty said. "That's a good thing for the future of our program.
"And the everyday players coming back and with Everett coming back, Parks coming back and Durschlag coming back, you feel like that's three top starters before we even start talking about recruiting. I'm more than pleased with the core of players that are coming back and I'm excited about our recruiting class."