Gaston College baseball team shows no signs of rust in Friday DH sweep

Gaston College showed no signs of rust as they returned to action after a week off to sweep Catawba Valley Community College in a doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.

The Rhinos, who received votes in the National Junior College Athletic Association preseason poll, won 10-5 in the opener and 11-7 in the nightcap over their nearby rivals.

"I was proud of our guys: We were ready to play," Gaston College coach Shohn Doty said.

The Rhinos scored runs in nine of the 12 innings in which they batted and banged out 19 hits.

Logan Ponnett (4 hits), Macon Leppert (3 hits, 2 RBIs), Caden Davidson (3 hits, double, 2 RBIs), Chris Hendrickson (3 hits, home run, 5 RBIs), Gabe Simmons (2 hits, home run, 1 RBI), Joey Nicholson (2 hits, home run, 2 RBIs) and Tyler Cook (home run) led the Gaston College offense.

"We did a good job with a lot of traffic and running the bases really well," Doty said of the team's offense.

On the mound, starters Drake Purvis (2 innings, 4 strikeouts in the opener) and Dalton Hazlett (4 2/3 innings, 7 strikeouts in the nightcap) picked up wins and Gavin Aldredge (strikeout to end second game) got a save.

"As for the pitching, we've got to work on solidifying the back end of games," Doty said. "We're throwing a lot of new guys who are maybe pitching with some nervous energy. But their talented arms so we'll clean all of that up."

The Rhinos are scheduled to return to action in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Sims Legion Park on Monday against Cleveland Community College.