Gaston College closes fall drills with "Rhino World Series"

After two months of practice workouts and exhibition games against NCAA Division I and II teams and others, Gaston College's baseball program will wrap up their 2025 fall drills with the Rhino World Series inter-squad scrimmage at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.

The opener of the best-of-three series for head coach Shohn Doty's program is Thursday at 1 p.m., with the second game on Friday at 1 p.m. If a third game is necessary, it'll be played Monday at 1 p.m.

The teams will be split into Team Johnston and Team McAllister as assistant coaches Kyler Johnston and K.J. McAllister will guide the respective teams with Doty and assistant coach Jacob Rand overseeing the games.

The Team Johnston roster is comprised of Gavin Aldredge, Julian Arreola, Ryan Brinkley, Jake Casey, Cross Clayton, Evan Conner, Holden Cooper, Caden Davidson, Nick Diehl, Trey Hitchcock, Carter Jessen, Terry Kaler, Landon King, Talan McConnell, Jack Newell, Joey Nicholson, David Nicks, Travis Smith, Colby Vanhook, Ben Wilcox, Sean Williams and Kandan Zollo.

And the Team McAllister roster is comprised of Jack Aurelius, Tyler Cook, Ty Corbin, Kyle Dobos, Dylan Gastley, Chase Ghantt, Dalton Hazlett, Chris Hendrickson, Brayden Hill, Landon Kemp, Dawson Kehr, Zack Kimmel, Macon Leppert, Jake McCoy, Jack Painter, Cooper Phillips, Cade Pilgrim, Drake Purvis, Conner Robertson, Gabe Simmons, Ethan Suchenski and Koy Swanson.

With Doty as head coach and athletic director, Gaston College's baseball team has been nationally-ranked in each of the past five seasons while taking 183 overall victories, winning a 2023 Region 10 title and advancing to the 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association College World Series appearance in Grand Junction, Col.

The Rhinos have four returning All-Region 10 honorees back from last spring's 41-15-1 region runner-up team.

Nicholson (first team 2025 All-Region 10 outfielder), Nicks (second team infielder), Koy Swanson (second team outfielder) and Hendrickson (second team outfielder) are the returning honorees.

Gaston College opens its 56-game 2026 regular season on Jan. 23 at 1 p.m. at Sims Legion Park.