Gaston College records doubleheader sweep on breezy Friday

Coming off its first losses of the season three days earlier, the Gaston College Rhinos' offense erupted on Friday at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park.

Playing in blustery, windy, chilly conditions, Gaston College's offense heated up as the Rhinos swept visiting Monroe College of Illinos 14-1 in the opener and 9-8 in a walkoff, come-from-behind victory in the nightcap.

Gaston College (6-2) will again host Monroe College in a Saturday doubleheader that starts at 1 p.m.

The sweep came two days after the Rhinos' lost versatile Jailyn Tineo for the forseeable future with an injury suffered in Wednesday's practice session.

"It's a tough spot for J," Steuerwald said of Tineo, a catcher-shortstop who is hitting .353 through six games.

Without Tineo, Asheton Queen and Brantleigh Parrott shared shortstop duties with Gracie Brown and Queen handling catching duties.

In the opener, Amiya Tomlinson struck out eight in five innings while yielding three hits, four walks and an unearned run.

Tomlinson was supported by a 10-hit offense led by Grace Manning (3 doubles, 3 RBIs), Parrott (3 hit, double, 4 RBIs) and Haylee Salter (triple, 2 RBIs).

In the nightcap, Monroe struck for four runs in the first and fourth innings to take leads of 4-0 and 8-7.

But Gaston College battled back each time, taking a 7-4 lead after a four-run second, then tied the score on Manning's RBI single in the fifth and winning it on Gabrielle Porterfield's two-out walkoff RBI single in the eighth.

"You're not going to make up for what she brings to the middle of our lineup and was a key defensive player for us," Steuerwald said. "But it's like we told everybody yesterday at practice. Everybody's got to contribute a little bit more and it doesn't need to be one person trying to make up for her. So we'll continue to mix and match. Obviously our bench is a little shorter without her.
"We've just got to continue to compete."

In the nightcap, Parrott relieved in the fifth and pitched four straight perfect innings with eight strikeouts for the victory.

The 9-hit offense was led by Logan Lilly (3 hits, 1 RBI), Queen (2 hits) and Serena Yalich (2-run double).