Gaston College splits doubleheader with Spartanburg Methodist

Wednesday's Spartanburg Methodist-Gaston College doubleheader at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park lived up to its pregame hype.

Two of the hottest National Junior College Athletic Association baseball teams battled for nearly six hours before coming away with a split of back-and-forth games.

Nationally-ranked Gaston College, in the top five of all three NJCAA polls this week, rallied from an early deficit to win 7-4 in the opener, then Region 10 Division I-leading Spartanburg Methodist rallied to win 8-6 in eight innings in the nightcap.

"It was two really good teams going at it," said Gaston College coach Shohn Doty, who team is 27-2 after the doubleheader split. "I thought our effort was good and I commend them. They played really well in the second game."

In the opener, Chandler Riley drove in four runs and David Sande, Hayden Myrick and Christian Baker combined on a seven-hitter on the mound.

Riley had two hits, including a two-run double in the second inning. Riley's RBI groundout in the fourth tied the score at 4 before J.D. Yakubinis' 2-out, 2-run single gave the Rhinos the lead for good.

Sande started and went four innings for the victory, with Myrick relieved and pitching two innings and Baker closing it out by retiring three of the four batters he faced for the save.

In the nightcap, the visiting Pioneers (21-12) scored three times in the sixth inning to take a 6-4 lead, survived a Gaston College rally that forced extra innings and plated two more runs in the eighth inning for the victory.

Riley led the Gaston College offense with two hits. Hayden Brandon added a two-run double and Pierson Gunnell had two RBIs.

The Rhinos had won 8-7 and 20-11 at Spartanburg Methodist in single games earlier this season before Wednesday's douleheader.

"Anytime you can win three out of four, you win the series," Doty said of this year's non-conference matchup against Spartanburg Methodist, which has made nine NJCAA World Series appearances. "And we won the series today.
"We knew this week would be a challenging week for us and we've still got a lot ahead of us."

Gaston College returns to action when it hosts Patrick & Henry Community College in a three-game weekend home Division II series that starts with a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday. Patrick & Henry was a 2021 NJCAA Division II World Series participant and is currently in second place of the West Division behind the Rhinos.