Unbeaten Gaston College baseball team makes school history with national ranking

A 15-0 start has gained Gaston College's first-year baseball team respect among Region 10 teams since it recorded sweeps of six of them in a perfect February.

On Tuesday morning, the Rhinos got national respect as the www.thejbb.net based in Grand Junction, Col., ranked them No. 8 nationally among National Junior College Athletic Association Division II teams.

"Coming in at No. 8 in the country is really special," said Gaston College coach Shohn Doty, whose team has swept Wake Tech, Patrick & Henry Community College and Guilford Tech in league play and Caldwell Tech, Surry Community College and Spartanburg Methodist in non-league games. "It's great for the college, for our athletic program and, most importantly, for our players."

Region 10 Division league rivals Patrick & Henry (8-4) and Catawba Valley Community College (7-7) are ranked 9th and 10th, respectively, behind the Rhinos; Gaston College swept a three-game series at Patrick & Henry Feb. 19-20 and has an upcoming three-game home series against Catawba Valley on March 12-13.

The national ranking is the first in Gaston College's athletics history that ran from 1964 to 1972 before the school restarted its athletic program last fall.

"We're obviously excited," Doty said. "That was one of the goals we had in August when we first started practicing. We knew we wanted to get national exposure for our program."

The Rhinos have been led by exceptional hitting, pitching and fielding so far this season as Gaston College has a collective .307 batting average, 3.78 ERA and .963 fielding percentage.

Top hitters have been Pierson Gunnell (.414 average, one home run 12 RBIs), Chandler Riley (.404 average, two home runs, 13 RBIs, 12 stolen bases), J.D. Yakubinis (.345 average, three home runs, 22 RBIs), Ahmir Cournier (.345 average, 20 RBIs), Trenton Snyder (.324 average, four home runs, 20 RBIs), Konni Durschlag (.300 average, 13 RBIs), Enrique Wood (.293 average, two home runs, 6 RBIs) and Wade Kelly (.255 average, 7 RBIs, 14 stolen bases).

Top pitchers have been Zach Zedalis (4-0 record, 2.08 ERA), Tyler Parks (3-0 record, 7.47 ERA), Marlowe Iorio (2-0 record, 3.27 ERA), J.D. Everett (2-0 record, 4.34 ERA), Gus Hughes (1-0 record, 0.82 ERA) and Christian Baker (1-0 record, 0.00 ERA).