Gaston College closes Region 10 schedule with 4-game series that will determine regular season champion
Ever since Gaston College baseball got its 2023 schedule, Rhinos players and coaches had the expectation that their goal of winning a Region 10 regular season championship would most likely come down to the final 4-game series of the season at Florence-Darlington Tech.
This weekend, that expectation will become reality when the teams meet at the Florence-Darlington Tech in 1 p.m. doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.
The host Stingers are 40-7 overall, 17-2 in Region 10 and have been ranked in the top 10 of the National Junior College Athletic Association poll since Feb. 27; Florence-Darlington Tech is currently No. 8 and has been ranked as high as No. 5.
The visiting Rhinos are 39-5 overall, 15-3 in Region 10 and have been ranked 17th or better in the NJCAA poll since Feb. 27 with a current ranking of No. 11; Gaston College also is ranked No. 4 in thejbb.net poll and No. 6 in the Dream Big Athletics poll.
"You're talking about two of the top 10 or so programs in the country so it should be a great series," Rhinos coach Shohn Doty said. "But we're not going to get too high or too low. We have to do what we do and get ready for the conference tournament."
The stakes are as follows:
... The Region 10 regular season winner gains an automatic berth in the May 11-14 NJCAA district tournament that sends its winner to the May 27-June 3 NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Col.
... Florence-Darlington Tech can claim the regular season title with two, three or four wins in the upcoming weekend series that would give the Stingers a third straight Region 10 regular season championship. Gaston College needs three or four victories to win the regular season title that would increase the school's streak of consecutive regular season titles to six years that would include four straight from 1968 to 1972 before the school dropped athletics.
... Both teams will be the two highest seeded teams in the upcoming 8-team, double-elimination Region 10 tournament that will be held May 5-8 at the Lexington County Stadiumin Lexington, S.C.; The tournament winner also gains a second berth in the upcoming district tournament and if it's the same team that wins the regular season, the tournament runner-up will claim that second berth.
"We've been working the whole season to get to this point and now we're here," said Gaston College sophomore shortstop Enrique Wood said. "We have to lock in and really play our best baseball. We have to work hard to get these wins and work towards getting to Grand Junction."
Wood is one of seven .300 hitters for a Gaston College offense that has a collective .320 batting average and has scored 9.6 runs per contest through its first 44 games.
Wood, who signed to play with North Carolina A&T last fall, also is back in the lineup after being hit in the face with a pitch during a March 19 home game against USC Lancaster; Wood missed nine games before returning to action on April 7 in the doubleheader sweep of USC Union.
"It was definitely scary," Wood said. "I actually came back quicker than I was expecting to. It's been a rough season. I've been struggling to stay healthy the entire season. I'm just going to try and get my body right."
Infielder-outfielder Adam Quintero is the top hitter with a .434 batting average. He's followed by outfielders Konni Durschlag (.390) and Wade Kelly (.375), catcher-infielder Seth Christmas (.359), Wood (.340), outfielder Trey Truitt (.333) and infielder Matthew Dobson (.313).
Leading run-producers have been Kelly (67 runs, 27 RBIs), Truitt (46 runs, 48 RBIs), Quintero (43 runs, 53 RBIs), Durschlag (39 runs, 25 RBIs), infielder Miller St. John (34 runs, 21 RBIs), catcher-first baseman J.D. Yakubinis (34 runs, 41 RBIs), Wood (32 runs, 26 RBIs), first baseman Freddie Oliver (25 runs, 17 RBIs), infielder Andrew Muraco (23 runs, 15 RBIs), first baseman Preston Hall (21 runs, 36 RBIs) and catcher Pierson Gunnell (17 runs, 25 RBIs).
The likely starting pitchers for the weekend series for Gaston College are J.D. Everett (7-1 record, 3.91 ERA), Nolan Straniero (8-2 record, 3.43 ERA), Kyle McKernan (5-0 record, 1.80 ERA) and Derek Vartanian (6-0 record, 1.50 ERA).
"I think, for us, it's about going down there and playing well," Doty said. "If that looks like 2-2 or looks like 3-1 we want to go down there and play well. Our focus is still on the conference tournament not the regular season winner because that's who get's to host the district tournament."
After this weekend's series, the Rhinos face another daunting task as they'll play at Walters State on April 26 in a 2 p.m. game; The Senators have been the No. 1-ranked team in the NJCAA poll the last four weeks.
Gaston College then closes Hosanna Bible College at 4 p.m. on April 29 at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park in a contest that will be preceded by "Sophomore Day" ceremonies.