Gaston College offense responds as Rhinos win another series

Gaston College closed out its final regular season series with its ninth win out 11 this season due to an impressive response after losing the opener of a three-game series at Region 10 Division I rival USC Lancaster.

The Rhinos, who are currently receiving votes in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll, lost 5-2 in Saturday's opening game of a doubleheader before recording a pair of "mercy" rule victories - 14-6 in eight innings in Saturday's nightcap and 20-2 in five innings in Sunday's single game.

"Now we've got to put three straight games together," said Gaston College coach Shohn Doty, whose team improved to 38-13-1 overall while closing out Region 10 Division I play with a 20-10 record. "We've won every conference series but two and we've won every series but three and the two losses (No. 2 Walters State and No. 12 Florence Darlington Tech) are against two of the top teams in the country.
"At the end of the day, if we want to get back in the top 10 where we want to be, we've got to put three games together."

With the Region 10 tournament coming later in the week, Doty was pleased with the pitching efforts he got in all three games.

Clayton Sherwood started and went four innings with six strikeouts with no decision in the opening loss before starter and winner Conner Frail (5 2/3 innings, 6 strikeouts) and relievers Alex Sobol (1 2/3 innings, 2 strikeouts) and Nick Diehl (1 innings, 1 strikeout) combined on a nine-hitter in the second game and Drake Purvis threw a three-hitter with three strikeouts in the finale.

"I thought for that ballpark, our pitching was good enough to win all three games," Doty said. "We let one slip away from us in that first game."

Sam Dansky (5 hits, double, home run, 7 RBIs), Brandon Crabtree (4 hits, home run, 4 RBIs), David Nicks (4 hits, home run, 4 RBIs), Koy Swanson (3 hits, home run, 3 RBIs), Joey Nicholson (3 hits, double, home run, 3 RBIs), Ty Corbin (3 hits, double, home run, 3 RBIs), Isaac Armstrong (3 hits) and Nick Lundquist (2 hits, home run, 5 RBIs) led the Rhinos' 34-hit offense during the weekend.

"I can't say enough about how we bounced back," Doty said. "We hit it extremely well up and down the lineup. Now we've got to go out and honor the sophomores the right way and play for a championship later this week."

Gaston College hosts IVS Academy on Tuesday at 1 p.m. for "Sophomore Day" in its regular season finale before opening the Region 10 tournament later this week.