Gaston College suffers rare home loss on Sunday afternoon
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cleveland Community College | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 2 |
|
Gaston College | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 2 |
One day after an emotional doubleheader sweep that gave Gaston College head coach Shohn Doty a career coaching milestone, the Rhinos weren't nearly as sharp and suffered a rare home defeat in a 6-5 loss to Cleveland Community College on Sunday afternoon at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.
Gaston College, No. 14 in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll, fell to 9-2 overall and 64-5 at home in the last three seasons.
Sunday's loss snapped an 11-game home winning streak at Sims Legion Park as the Rhinos were playing the fourth game of a current 21-game homestand.
"You've got to be able to match their intensity and we weren't able to do it," said Doty, who won his 100th career game as Gaston College head coach in the finale of Saturday's doubleheader sweep victory. "And we left a small army on base."
The Rhinos zoomed to a 5-1 lead after four innings highlighted by a three-run first inning but wouldn't score again while leaving 15 runners on base, including two in the seventh, two in the eighth and three in the ninth.
"Missed opportunities was the story of the day for us," Doty said.
Brandon Crabtree (2 hits, 1 RBI), Tyler Burke (2 hits, 1 RBI) and Nick Lundquist (2 hits) led Rhinos' 10-hit offense and five pitchers combined on a 10-hitter with starter Connor Frail going five inning with three strikeouts.
Centerfielder Trent Murchison had the defensive gem of the contest by throwing to catch Nick Lundquist for a tag out at home plate for the third out of hte fourth inning.
Doty was disappointed in dropping the game to visiting Yetis (4-2).
"It's a simple as this: If you don't match the intensity level, you're not going to win," Doty said. "So we're hugely disappointed in the way that we approached today. Hopefully, we'll get some guys back in the lineup, make some changes and figure it out a little bit."
The Rhinos, who play at Cleveland Community College in a three-game series April 13 and 14, will return to action on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at home against Patrick & Henry Community College.