Rhinos pick up 6th shutout victory of the season to improve to 14-1

Gaston College recorded its sixth shutout of the season on Wednesday afternoon with a 5-0 victory over Guilford Tech at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.

The Rhinos (14-1) used six pitchers in the combined six-hitter with nine strikeouts

Starter Derek Vartanian went five innings with three strikeouts while yielding two hits for the pitching victory. Relievers Jaxson Mangum, Hunter Shew, Landon Carr, Antwan Walton and David Sande finished up

"Derek threw the ball very well today," Gaston College coach Shohn Doty said. "He had great command out there. And, for the most part, the bullpen was good. At the end of the day, we can't walk guys and we gave them opportunities in the eighth and ninth innings. We were fortunate that when we had to, we made big pitches.
"And, overall, you can't complain about a shutout."

The Rhinos' offense supported the effort with a seven-hit, seven-walk, five-hit batter offense.

Wade Kelly (2 hits, 3 stolen bases, 1 RBI) and Trey Truitt (2 hits, 1 RBI, 2 walks, 1 hit batter) led the balanced effort that scored once in the first and sixth innings and tallied three times in the fourth.

Adam Quintero's bases-loaded hit by pitch drove in the first run with Kelly drawing bases-loaded walk, Truitt a bases-loaded walk and J.D. Yakubinis had a RBI groundout in the fourth and Truitt's RBI single drove in the sixth-inning run.

Gaston College next makes its first weekend trip of the season with a Saturday noon doubleheader and Sunday noon single game at Lenoir Community College in Kinston.

"It was a pretty workmanlike effort for us today," Doty said. "Now we go on our first weekend road trip. It give us a chance to learn and get better."

The Rhinos are at home again on March 1 against Surry Community College at 3 p.m.