Gaston College wins twice on Sunday to take NJCAA East District and advance to World Series

Gaston College took on all sorts of challenges this weekend - and the Rhinos answered them all to win the National Junior College Athletic Association East District tournament at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.

Gaston College came through the loser's bracket and defeated national power Florence Darlington Tech twice on Sunday - by 6-5 and 12-2 scores - to earn a trip to the NJCAA Division I World Series May 27 through June 3 in Grand Junction, Col. Learn more about supporting their trip to the World Series.

The Rhinos, in their first season of postseason eligibility after restarting the program in the fall of 2021, will take a 49-11 overall record and No. 12 national ranking to the World Series.

"It takes an all around effort to get to the World Series," Gaston College coach Shohn Doty said. "And that's what we got today."

Eight pitchers combined to hold the No. 12 ranked Stingers (50-13) to 15 hits and eight runs, highlighted by starter and winner Derek Vartanian's five innings with three strikeouts and reliever Hayden Ridenhour's two innings with three strikeouts for the save in the opener and a strong start from Kyle McKernan (2 innings), 2-inning relief efforts from Sawyer Sutton, Tyler Parks and Jaxson Mangum and one inning from Davis Sande in the second game.

Wade Kelly (4 hits, 3 RBIs), Adam Quintero (4 hits, 5 RBIs), Trey Truitt (3 hits, 5 RBIs) and Miller St. John (3 hits, 1 RBI) led an offense that had 19 hits, drew eight walks and three hit batters while scoring 18 runs.

And the defense made two errors in 18 innings and turned a huge double play in the second game.

The Rhinos are the 39th Region 10 Division I team to advance to the World Series since 1959. Current members Louisburg (10) and Spartanburg Methodist (9) have the most appearances. Other current schools - Florence Darlington Tech (2), USC Sumter (1) - have also made appearances. Current 4-year colleges UNC Wilmington (5), Wingate (3), Brevard (2), Gardner-Webb (2) and Ferrum (1) have represented Region 10 in addition to two schools that no longer have teams (Mitchell and College of The Albemarle 1 each and another school that is now a Division II team - Pitt (1).

Florence Darlington Tech in 2021 was the last Region 10 team to play in the World Series.

Gaston College forced the final game by building an early lead and holding on for a 6-5 victory behind an extraordinary effort from Ridenhour.

Making only his second appearance of the season, Ridenhour got the final six outs for a save that protected the victory for Vartanian; Ridenhour yielded one hit, struck out three and retired the last four batters he faced.

"You know, he has thrown bullpens a ton for us and he's gotten better and better," Doty said of Ridenhour. "And, at that point in the game, I think we just needed a strike thrower and I knew he could throw a secondary pitch for strikes. We're not where we are now without him today."

Vartanian started and went five innings and yielded three hits and one run before Hunter Shew and Ridenhour pitched two innings apiece in relief.

Kelly (4 hits, double, 2 RBIs), Quintero (2 hits, 2 RBIs), Konni Durschlag (2 hits) and Truitt (2-run double) led Gaston College's 9-hit offense in the opener.

Quintero had a 1-out RBI single and Truitt a 1-out 2-run double in a 3-run third inning and Kelly had a 2-out 2-run double and Quintero a 2-run RBI single in a 3-run fourth inning.

In the "winner take all" second game, the Stingers struck for a run in the second inning but McKernan worked out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam with the help of a double play grounder started by shortstop Enrique Wood and turned by second baseman St. John.

More importantly, escaping a big inning seemed to provide momentum as the Rhinos scored three times in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead for good. Wood's RBI grounder tied the score beore Seth Christmas' RBI double and St. John's RBI grounder accounted for the other two runs.

Gaston College tacked on another run in the third on Truitt's home run, then put the game away in the seventh and eighth innings after the Stingers nudged within 4-2 in the top of the sixth.

Quintero's 3-run double accounted for the seventh inning runs and Kelly has a sacrifice fly, Truitt a bases-loaded walk, J.D. Yakubinis a 2-run double and a wild pitch accounted for those runs.

"In that second game, we just kept our foot on the pedal and just kept adding and adding," Doty said.

Here's the full schedule for the 2023 NJCAA Eastern District tournament at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park:

(Friday, May 12)
Game 1: No. 2 Harford, Md. (34-16-1) vs. No. 3 Florence Darlington Tech (48-11) - Florence Darlington Tech 6-5 in 11
Game 2: No. 1 Gaston College (45-10) vs. No. 4 Potomac State, W.Va. (30-16) - Gaston College 5-3
(Saturday, May 13)
Game 3: Florence Darlington Tech vs. Gaston College - Florence Darlington Tech 12-4 in 8
Game 4: Harford, Md. vs. Potomac State, W.Va. - Harford 5-0 (Potomac State eliminated)
Game 5: Gaston College vs. Harford, Md. - Gaston College 8-7 (Harford eliminated)
(Sunday, May 14)
Game 6: Florence Darlington Tech vs. Gaston College - Gaston College 6-5
Game 7: Gaston College vs. Florence Darlington Tech - Gaston College 12-2 (Florence Darlington Tech eliminated, Gaston College wins district)