Veteran pitcher thankful for another year and a chance at national playoff success
When Hunter Shew first began his collegiate baseball career, he simply wanted the opportunity to show that inactivity hadn't diminished his talents.
After all, Shew was a high school senior in the spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all baseball activities in the country.
And when Shew was a part of Cleveland Community College's start-up baseball program in the spring 2021, he got valuable experience.
Enough experience, it turns out, to be a part of a start-up baseball program just down the road at Gaston College in 2022.
This year, Shew hopes that seasoning will help him and the Rhinos to national greatness in their first year of eligibility for National Junior College Athletic Association postseason play.
"The goal is to win this year," said Shew, a right-handed pitcher from Bostic who played at both Chase and East Rutherford high schools. "Not just to get there but to win it all."
Shew came to Gaston College after going 0-6 with a 8.13 ERA in 12 appearances (five starts) for the first-year Yetis program in 2021.
His decision to transfer came after talking to his East Rutherford High school coaches Bobby and Drew Reynolds.
Bobby Reynolds is a six-time state championship winner at East Rutherford who also is the winningest American Legion baseball coach in N.C. history during his career for Cherryville Post 100 and Gastonia Post 23. And Drew Reynolds, his son, is a longtime assistant for East Rutherford and Post 100 and became East Rutherford's head coach in 2021.
"Both of them said good things about (Gaston College) coach (Shohn) Doty and I reached out and went on a visit and it seemed like a place I wanted to be," Shew said of his transfer from Shelby's Cleveland Community College to Dallas' Gaston College.
When the Rhinos began fall drills in 2021, Shew felt confident he was a part of a talented program.
"It was like coming to a Division I program," Shew said. "And I learned so much from the older guys who had been at major college programs. (Current High Point University freshman) Christian Baker helped me out a lot."
Shew spent the Rhinos' championship-winning 2022 season as a two-way pitcher; He started four times and pitched in relief 15 times and finished with a 3-1 overall record and 3.72 ERA for a Gaston College team that went 41-9 overall, was ranked as high as No. 2 in one national poll and won Region 10's Division II Western regular season title.
"We had great leadership last year from the players and coaches," Shew said. "And coach Doty put me on a great training program and helped me out a lot.
"I struggled last fall but then I started to figure it out and had a really good year."
This season, not only is Gaston College eligible for national competition but the Rhinos' program is playing at the Division I level of Region 10 and has the highest of expectations.
Players and coaches have established advancing to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Col., as a preseason goal and winning the Region 10 regular season title would allow the Rhinos to host the district tournament in mid-May that sends its winner to the World Series.
"I could've never imagined it to be like this when I committed," Shew said. "But I knew that we were going to be good and we can be good again this year.
"I think we all work very hard and winning is again our goal. We've got a very deep pitching staff. We probably added five more guys that will contribute and help. And the offense looks really good."