Gaston College comes through with doubleheader sweep on historic day

Emotions were surging for the Gaston College Rhinos heading into Saturday's doubleheader at home against neighboring Cleveland Tech.

After all, their coach, Shohn Doty, was teetering on the precipice of a major milestone in the third year of his stint—just two wins shy of 100 victories.

If the Rhinos played a bit tight early given the historic nature of the moment, they responded well, sweeping the twinbill at Sims Legion Park with a 9-1 win in eight innings in game one, 8-4 in the second game.

Gaston College answered the bell offensively with explosive innings in both games, stellar starting pitching in game one, shutdown relief pitching in parts of both outings, and sparkling defense in game two.

"I thought we seemed a bit tight today, but I kind of knew what that was," said Doty after receiving a plaque from the college president in recognition of his achievement. "I was really happy with the way we responded though, and I thought we pretty much controlled both games from start to finish."

The Rhinos (9-1) put five runs on the board in the first two innings of game one to establish control.

And starting pitcher Mason Smith made the early lead stand up with six innings of solid work. The righthander, who is bound for Campbell University next year, pitched a two-hitter with four strikeouts and one earned run as he ran his record to 2-0.

Shane Thorson spelled Smith in the seventh and fashioned two innings of hitless relief.

The Rhinos shared the wealth on offense in banging out 11 hits, including a pair of doubles by Brandon Crabtree (2-3, 2 RBIs) and Seth Christmas (2-5, RBI). Ben Karpowicz also had two hits with two RBIs, and Jackson Berini drove in two runs with a single.

As usual, Gaston College ran the bases aggressively, stealing seven bases for the game.

And even though the Rhinos had two errors in one inning for the first time this season, they cleaned that up with an impressive defensive showing in game two.

Of special note was the play of true freshman Trevor Lucas at third base. He defused what could have been a big inning for Cleveland Tech by handling three tough chances to limit the Yetis to only one run scored in the top of the sixth.

After Kaden Swaim led off with a home run to pull the Yetis within 8-4, the next two hitters reached on singles to force Doty to make his second pitching change of the game.

That's when Lucas went to work. He hauled in a sizzling line drive off the bat of Avery Russell for out one, made a one-handed grab and off-balanced throw to get Ben Hodge for the second out, and stabbed Alex Adams' hard grounder and wheeled to first to retire the side.

"He's a true freshman, but he doesn't play like a true freshman," Doty said of the infielder and lead-off batter out of Wilmington and North Brunswick High. "Nothing seems to bother him, and it's hard to be a leadoff hitter in our lineup with all our transfers and also play third base. He has answered the bell so far with flying colors."

Top hitters for the Rhinos in game two were Caleb Estes (2-for-3), Freddie Oliver (2-for-3, 2 RBIs), Tyler Burke (2-RBI double) and Crabtree (solo home run).

The Yetis pushed across a run in the top of the first inning off back-to-back doubles and seemed to be gathering momentum. However, Gaston College answered with a six-run spree in the second inning highlighted by Burke's two-RBI double to right field.

"They came out with their tail on fire a little bit, and we had to respond to that," Doty said. "It's only 30 minutes away and it is a big game for them. If we don't bring our A game, we are going to be really tested."

The Rhinos are three games into a run of 21 straight home games, and they play Cleveland Tech again Sunday with a scheduled 1 p.m. start.