No. 1-ranked Gaston College enters Region 10 baseball title defense as a favorite this time around
A year ago, Gaston College entered its first Region 10 baseball tournament as the No. 16-ranked team in the country and the No. 2 seeded team in an eight-team tournament.
While the national ranking gave the Rhinos' some level of respect, the weren't expected to win, much less take the title and host the East District tournament they won on their way to a historic National Junior College World Series appearance.
This year, Gaston College may be the No. 2 seed again but the Rhinos are a favorite as the No. 2 ranked team in the NJCAA poll and top-ranked team in the 2-Year Baseball poll.
"It'll be different for us," said Rhinos coach Shohn Doty, whose team is 49-6 overall. "Everybody knew we had a good team last year but it was our first time.
"This year, we talk about being the hunted. We'll be the No. 2 seed but we'll probably be the No. 1 team in the country. So that'll be a little different.
"Nobody's going to overlook us obviously."
There's no doubt about that as Gaston College enters the weekend with a sparkling record whose losses came four times by one run, once by two runs and once by three runs.
The Rhinos lead Region 10 in runs (572), home runs (67), walks (417), on-base percentage (.517) and slugging percentage (.588) and second in hitting (.352) on offense, are first in fielding percentage (.968) on defense and are first in ERA (3.52) and third in strikeouts (366) in pitching.
The individual leaders on offense are Seth Christmas (.388 average, 12 home runs, 70 RBIs, 18 stolen bases), Andrew Muraco (.381 average, 7 home runs, 47 RBIs, 12 stolen bases), Freddie Oliver (.377 average, 13 home runs, 54 RBIs, 27 stolen bases), Ben Karpowicz (.367 average, 11 home runs, 64 RBIs, 9 stolen bases), Sean Sullivan (.364 average, 1 home run, 17 RBIs, 11 stolen bases), Trevor Lucas (.357 average, 7 home runs, 48 RBIs, 16 stolen bases), Justin Smith (.347 average, 1 home run, 9 RBIs, 12 stolen bases), Trent Murchison (.344 average, 33 RBIs, 51 stolen bases), Seth Crabtree (.342 average, 6 home runs, 54 RBIs), Caleb Estes (.325 average, 4 home runs, 38 RBIs, 16 stolen bases) and Tyler Burke (.319 average, 2 home runs, 20 RBIs, 6 stolen bases).
The individual pitching leaders are Mason Smith (9-0 record, 3.03 ERA), Landon Carr (6-1 record with 4 saves, 1.98 ERA), Evan Vandenbosch (6-1 record, 3.88 ERA), J.J. DeVos (5-0 record, 2.31 ERA), Connor Frail (5-0 record, 4.20 ERA), Wagner Morrissette (5-1 record, 4.13 ERA), Shane Thorson (5-2 record, 3.79 ERA), Gabe Hernandez (3-0 record with 1 save, 4.08 ERA), Austin Renn (2-0 record, 0.00 ERA) and Clayton Sherwood (1-0 record with 3 saves, 3.50 ERA).
Twelve Gaston College players have already signed or committed to four-year colleges for next season - Carr (Campbell), Christmas (Liberty), Calvert Clark (Appalachian State), Estes (Charlotte), Karpowicz (Campbell), Lucas (UNC Wilmington), Morrissette (Iowa), Oliver (North Carolina A&T), Smith (Campbell), Vandenbosch (Georgia Southern) and Isaac Williams (Elon). And several others are likely to make commitments in the coming weeks.
"Is there a little bit more pressure there for us this year? Maybe," Doty said. "I would say there's a bit more expectation. And the pressure comes internally from what we expect of ourselves as a program.
"We firmly believe we're the best team in the region and if we play our best, we'll still being playing next week."
Here is the full Region 10 tournament schedule:
(Friday, May 3)
Game 1 - USC Lancaster vs. USC Sumter, 10 a.m.
Game 2 - Spartanburg Methodist vs. USC Union, 1 p.m.
Game 3 - Gaston College vs. USC Salkehatchie, 4:30 p.m.
Game 4 - Florence-Darlington-Tech vs. Game 1 winner, 7:30 p.m.
(Saturday, May 4)
Game 5 - Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 10 a.m.
Game 6 - Game 2 loser vs. Game 3 loser, 1 p.m.
Game 7 - Game 1 loser vs. Game 5 loser, 4:30 p.m.
Game 8 - Game 4 loser vs. Game 6 winner, 7:30 p.m.
(Sunday, May 5)
Game 9 - Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 10 a.m.
Game 10 - Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 11 - Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 loser, 4:30 p.m.
(Monday, May 6)
Game 12 - Game 10 winner vs. Game 11 winner, 11 a.m.
Game 13 (if necessary) - If Game 11 winner wins Game 12, approximately 2 p.m.