Gaston College baseball gets off to solid start in fall season

Gaston College head baseball coach Shohn Doty and assistants Jacob Rand and K.J. McAllister knew they had a large chore ahead of them in restarting the school's baseball program with an eye towards the Feb. 2, 2022 opening of their initial regular season.

That began in August with fall practice drills and picked up speed when the team played a 20-game fall schedule from Sept. 11 to Oct. 24.

The Rhinos played games at their home park, Gastonia's Sims Legion Park, and at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Surry Community College, Campbell University, Gardner-Webb University and Wingate University.

"I definitely think it gave us good momentum heading into our offseason to get our guys fired up about the second phase of playing as we prepare to get started again in February," Doty said of his team's fall workouts.

Already, individual standouts have emerged for Doty's team, among them two NCAA Division I recruiting commitments - pitcher Zach Zedalis to the University of South Carolina and infielder Chandler Riley to Campbell University.

"They are both transfer kids who came in and trusted us as a first-year program," Doty said. "Zach's been (throwing in the) low 90s all fall with a lot of pitch ability. Obviously, having your first-ever signee from Gaston College signing with a premier program in the SEC speaks volumes about him and it speaks to the development piece that we tell our guys they're going to get here. Chandler's had an unbelievable fall. He got several Division I offers. He's a guy who came in, continued to develop and is headed back to Division I."

Zedalis, a 2019 Cox Mill High graduate, originally signed with N.C. Central and briefly pitched there in 2020 and for the Charlotte 49ers in 2021 before choosing to transfer to Gaston College's startup program.

Riley, a 2020 Cox Mill High graduate, originally signed with Charlotte but was redshirted in 2021 before transferring to play for the Rhinos.

And Doty thinks Zedalis and Riley won't be the only major college recruits on the first Gaston College team.

"There are at least three more guys, maybe four, that are going to have Division I opportunities as well as opportunities at other four-year schools," Doty said. "So we like our team and the direction we're headed in that's for sure."

Doty felt that facing a challenging fall schedule would allow his team the time to grow and learn about each other regardless of the results.

"Everybody was learning our terminology and how we go about things," Doty said. "Sometimes, that's hard to get across in practice every day. When you're getting a chance to play against outside competition, I think it accentuates some of your coaching points and lets guys see, 'This is what we have to do to be successful.'

"It was a really neat experience to go to Wingate ... after they won the Division II national championship. We also got to compete against some of our fellow junior colleges to see where we stack up. One of the huge plusses of junior college baseball is the ability to play some outside competition and really learn from your opponents. I think towards the end, we figured out a way to win and what we needed to do and the kind of baseball we wanted to play. Quite frankly, I think we played our best baseball at the end. That's a good feeling when you end it on that kind of a positive note."

In addition to Zedalis and Riley, Doty considered infielder Ahmir Courmier, pitcher-utility Konni Durschlag, pitcher Alex Hall, pitcher Christian Baker and pitcher J.D. Everett among the standouts in addition to catcher J.D. Yakubinis, who was limited by injury. Freshmen who showed promise as the fall progressed included position players Miller St. John, Trenton Snyder and Pierson Gunnell. Freshman pitchers who showed promise included David Sande, Dusty Sanderlin and Keanu Buentipo.

"There's always a little bit of change," Doty said. "I anticipate the roster size to be somewhere between 36 and 38 when we start for the spring. We feel like the number 36 to 38 guys gives us a chance to coach the guys that we have. We definitely like the guys we have and think we'll make a couple of additions at the semester break that will add to our ability to compete at a high level. "We think we'll have a competitive roster in this first year and look forward to getting to play when it counts in February."