No. 7 Gaston College wins huge Region 10 series at No. 8 Florence Darlington Tech
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gaston College | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 18 | 0 |
|
Florence-Darlington Technical College | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 14 | 1 |
A strong start and even stronger finish gave Gaston College's baseball team a second series victory over two-time defending Region 10 champion Florence Darlington Tech on Saturday and Sunday in a matchup of teams ranked in the top 10 of the National Junior College Athletic Association poll in Florence, S.C.
The No. 7 Rhinos won Saturday's opener 14-4 in five innings, then after losing 9-7 in Saturday's nightcap, they made a huge rally for a 12-10 victory in Sunday's series finale.
"It was a pretty good weekend," Gaston College coach Shohn Doty said. "If you come in here and win two out of three, you're definitely not complaining."
A patient Gaston College offense that banged out 39 hits and drew 29 walks helped the Rhinos improve to 35-3 overall and 15-3 in Region 10. The second 2-1 series victory gives Gaston College a two-game lead over the Stingers (32-8, 13-5) with 12 games left for each team in the league schedule.
"We have in our mind if we win every series from here on out, we'll be hard to catch," Doty said. "I'm proud of our team. They overcame some adversity today and found a way to come back and win."
Caden Davidson (8 hits, 2 doubles, 4 RBIs), Koy Swanson (6 hits, 2 doubles, home run, 5 RBIs), Nick Diehl (5 hits, triple, home run, 5 RBIs), Logan Ponnett (5 hits, home run, 1 RBI), David Nicks (4 hits, double, 2 home runs, 5 RBIs), Chris Hendrickson (4 hits, home run, 4 RBIs) and Joey Nicholson (3 doubles, 1 RBI) led the Rhinos' weekend offense.
Trailing 9-4 after six innings in Sunday's finale, Gaston College scored six times in the seventh to retake the lead at 10-9.
Even after Florence Darlington Tech knotted the score at 10 in the bottom of the seventh, Diehl drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth to give the Rhinos the lead for good, Nicks slugged an insurance home run in the ninth and reliever and winner Dalton Hazlett pitched 2 2/3 innings with three strikeouts for the pitching victory.
Starter Jack Aurelius went 3 2/3 innings with five strikeouts to pick up the win in the opening game of the series.
The Rhinos return to action on Friday when they start a three-game series at USC Sumter - 1 p.m. doubleheader on Friday and 1 p.m. single game on Saturday.