Gaston College to honor program pioneers on Sunday
When Gaston College decided to restart its athletic program after 50 years, the school needed athletes willing to become pioneers.
On Sunday, Gaston College will honor 10 of those program-builders as the baseball team plays its final weekend home game on Sunday at 2 p.m. against Region 10 power Florence-Darlington Tech at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.
Chandler Riley is one of those playing his final games for the Rhinos.
He's also played a key role for a baseball program that earned the first national ranking in any sport in school history and set program milestones in its inaugural season.
That's why the third baseman from Concord expects the pregame festivities to give him and his teammates a flood of memories.
"It's going to be pretty emotional," said Riley, a 2020 Cox Mill High graduate. "We came together as a family this year and that coming to an end is going to bring come high emotions."
A third baseman who has started all 47 games entering the weekend, Riley is hitting .381 with seven home runs, 42 RBIs and 35 stolen bases. He leads the team in stolen bases, is second on the team in hitting and home runs and fourth in RBIs.
Riley transferred to Gaston College after one season at UNC Charlotte and signed to play next year at Campbell after choosing the Camels over North Carolina, N.C. State and UNC Wilmington.
"He was one of the first guys we got," Rhinos coach Shohn Doty said of Riley. "And he's had a big impact on our success all season long."
Riley's biggest impact may have been his leadoff home run to tie the score at 3 in what became a 4-3 come-from-behind win over Cleveland Community College on April 20 in a doubleheader sweep that clinched the West Division regular season title of Region 10's Division II baseball race this season.
The Rhinos are 40-7 overall and 30-6 in league play entering their final three non-conference games of the year against Region 10 Division I opponents Florence-Darlington Tech and USC Sumter; Gaston College visits Florence-Darlington Tech at 1 p.m. on Saturday, hosts Florence-Darlington Tech at 2 p.m. on Sunday and hosts USC Sumter on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Since the program was a restart with no players until last summer, Riley and his teammates were taking a chance on Doty and his coaching staff of Jacob Rand and K.J. McAllister that they could compete for a regular season title even as they wouldn't be eligible to compete in national tournaments as a first-year program.
"Just like everybody else in the program, we all took that chance,' Riley said. "Coming to this program and having the trust that we all have in coach Doty. He's the one that proved everything to us.
"He's the one that got the field. He said we were going to win 40 games. I think everything was just putting trust in coach Doty."
The field - Sims Legion Park - underwent major renovations after a brief fall schedule and was reopened in March after the Rhinos had played their first 10 home games at CaroMont Health Park; That venue opened in 2021 as the home of the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball that is a partner league with Major League Baseball.
A 19-0 start to the season gave Gaston College hope of a league title and a national ranking - the Rhinos have been in a poll every week since March 1 and climbed to as high as No. 2; It also gave the Rhinos a target on their backs as a favorite.
"Obviously, winning a championship isn't easy," Riley said. "And we haven't taken winning for granted."
In taking the regular season championship, Gaston College became the first Region 10 baseball program in its 73-year history to win 30 league games in a season.
The other nine players to be honored with Riley are first baseman Ahmir Cournier, catcher Patrick Hogan, infielder Logan Rose and pitchers Christian Baker, Alex Hall, Gus Hughes, Marlowe Iorio, Hayden Myrick and Zach Zedalis.
In addition to Riley, Cournier (Young Harris, Ga.), Baker (High Point), Hogan (Catawba), Hughes (High Point) and Zedalis (South Carolina) have committed to signed to play college baseball next season, Iorio and Myrick are receiving college interest and Hall and Rose are undecided about their futures.
Cournier has started all 47 games with a .361 average, two home runs and 53 RBIs and Hogan has been a catcher in 18 games.
On the mound, Baker (5-1 record with two saves, 1.45 ERA), Hughes (8-0 rcord, 2.16 ERA), Iorio (3-0 record, 2.94 ERA), Myrick (1-0 record, 4.86 ERA) and Zedalis (4-0 record, 2.41 ERA) have been standouts of a dominant pitching staff. Hughes also threw the school's first no-hitter on March 26 and was honored four days later as the NJCAA Division II national pitcher of the week.