Pitching dominant as Gaston College sweep Region 10 weekend series
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
USC Salkehatchie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
|
Gaston College | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 3 | 7 | 1 |
Gaston College's baseball team won its seventh Region 10 Division I series out of nine tries by sweeping USC Salkehatchie on Friday and Saturday by scores of 11-0 in five innings and 9-5 and 3-1 in nine inning games at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.
The Rhinos improved to 36-12-1 overall and 18-9 in conference play as starting pitchers Noah Zimmerman (5 innings, 2-hitter, 6 strikeouts), Conner Frail (6 2/3 innings, 4 hits, 10 strikeouts) and Drake Purvis (6 innings, 1 hit, 6 strikeouts) failed to yield an earned run.
"We just got three really good starts," said Gaston College coach Shohn Doty, whose team received votes in the most recent National Junior College Athletic Assocation poll. "And that's how you win at this time at the end of the year."
Zimmerman improved to 7-4 on the season with his two-hit shutout while Frail improved to 8-2 and Purvis 6-0.
In Frail's win, relievers Terry Kaler, Cross Clayton and Nick Diehl pitched the final 2 1/3 innings of a five-hitter and Clayton Sherwood picked up a save in three innings of work behind Purvis to complete a two-hitter.
"We just threw the ball really well," Doty said.
Offensively, David Nicks (5 hits, 3 doubles, 3 RBIs), Chris Hendrickson (5 hits, 2 doubles, triple, 2 RBIs), Koy Swanson (4 hits, double, home run, 5 RBIs), Brandon Crabtree (4 hits, double, 2 RBIs), Joey Nicholson (3 hits, triple, 1 RBI), Nick Lundquist (2 hits, 4 RBIs), Isaac Armstrong (2 hits, 2 RBIs) and Ty Corbin (2 hits, 1 RBI) led the Rhinos in the three-game sweep.
"We've got to honor our sophomores on Wednesday the right way and then next weekend we've got to play a hot Lancaster team," Doty said. "The goal here every year is to win 40 games and we're at 36 right now with four (regular season) games to go. So we've got to figure that out."
Gaston College's final regular season home game is 1 p.m. Wednesday against Fayetteville Tech in a contest that will be preceded by "Sophomore Day" ceremonies at Sims Legion Park. The Rhinos close the regular season with a three-game series at USC Lancaster with an April 26 1 p.m. doubleheader and an April 27 1 p.m. contest.