No. 1 Gaston College picks up DH sweep in first Region 10 road games on Saturday

Gaston College's baseball played a game as the top-ranked team in the country for the first time on Saturday.

It also was playing its first road Region 10 games.

Some might see those two facts as significant challenges.

But on Saturday, the Rhinos recorded an impressive doubleheader sweep by 10-3 and 13-1 scores at USC Lancaster.

"We responded really well," Gaston College Shohn Doty said. "We had discussed being No. 1 and going on the road for an extended period of time. But we stayed with our recipe for success."

Efficient pitching and patient, effective hitting were the storylines in both Rhinos' victories as starter and winners Mason Smith and Evan Vandenbosch each pitched at least five innings and Rhinos' hitters combined for 19 hits, 16 walks and three hit batters in racking up 23 total runs in the two games.

"Lancaster's been really having a good season and they have four really good starting pitchers," Doty said of the host Lancers, who fell to 18-12 overall and 0-2 in Region 10. "I thought we did a really good job being patient, taking what they gave us and getting those guys out of the game. Then when were able to get to the bullpen, we kind of made them pay for it."

Opening game starter and winner Mason Smith (5-0) went 6 1/3 innings with four strikeouts while yielding five hits, three runs (two earned) and four walks in an 85-pitch effort. Nightcap starter Evan Vandenbosch (4-0) went five innings with five strikeouts while yielding three hits, one unearned run and one walk in an 80-pitch effort that was ended after his offense scored nine runs in a 45-minute top of the sixth inning rally.

Caleb Estes (5 hits, 4 RBIs, double home run), Seth Christmas (3 hits, 3 RBIs, home run), Freddie Oliver (3 hits, 3 RBIs, home run) and Andrew Muraco (2 hits, 4 RBIs, grand slam home run) led the offense for Gaston College (27-2, 6-0), which was ranked No. 1 by Dream Big Athletics earlier this week and has been No. 2 for the three straight weeks in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll.

The No. 1 ranking is the first in Gaston College history for any sport.

The Rhinos remain at USC Lancaster for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Sunday in hopes of completing back-to-back four-game Region 10 sweeps; Gaston College swept visiting USC Sumter last weekend in its first region series.

"We had some really good efforts today but now you've got to go out and do it again," Doty said. "Road series wins are hard enough to get but road series sweeps are even harder to get.
"We have an opportunity to do that if we play really well tomorrow. So there's a lot for us to play for and a chance to really give us a strong start to league play."