No. 7 Gaston College completes Region 10 series sweep

On a day in which Gaston College was ranked in the top 10 of the National Junior College Athletic Association baseball rankings for the fourth year in the last five, the No. 7-ranked Rhinos completed a three-game Region 10 sweep at USC Union on Monday afternoon.

The contest, originally scheduled for Sunday before being postponed by weather, saw Gaston College erupt for 13 runs in its last two bats after falling behind 5-3 for a 16-5, 5-inning victory.

It came after sweeping Saturday's doubleheader 14-4 in seven innings in the opener and 9-8 in six innings in a nightcap called by darkness.

The sweep improved to 24-2 overall and 7-2 in the Region 10 standings.

"We've talked the whole time we've been here that we want to be a nationally-relevant program," said Gaston College coach Shohn Doty, whose program has been ranked nationally all five seasons since athletics restarted at the school in 2021. "The goal now is to keep climbing and you do that by winning games.
"It's a credit to our kids and what they're doing that we've been ranked. And it's not something that we take for granted."

During the weekend sweep of USC Union, the Rhinos had 36 hits led by Nick Diehl (5 hits, 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 9 RBIs), Koy Swanson (5 hits, home run, 8 RBIs), David Nicks (5 hits, home run, 4 RBIs), Kandan Zollo (4 hits, 2 home runs, 7 RBIs), Logan Ponnett (4 hits, double, 1 RBI), Gabe Simmons (4 hits, double, 1 RBI) and Caden Davidson (3 hits, double, triple, home run, 4 RBIs).

On the mound, relievers Jack Aurelius (2 1/3 innings, 3 strikeouts in Saturday opener), Travis Smith (1 inning, 1 strikeout in Saturday nightcap) and Sean Williams (1 2/3 innings, 3 strikeouts on Monday) picked up the pitching victories.

"I was a little disappointed in the starting pitching this weekend but we were really good out of the bullpen," Doty said. "We're excited about where we are. We've got a quick turnaround for tomorrow so we'll see how the guys react to that."

The Rhinos return to action with Tuesday's 3 p.m. game at Guilford Tech.