2021-22 REVIEW: Part 4 of 5 on how Rhinos' teams got started - Baseball

When Gaston College head coach Shohn Doty was hired as the first head coach of the school's athletic restart in the late winter of 2021, he felt confident he could find players that would make the program successful.

At the time, there was no nickname, no athletic gear, no assistant coaches and no players.

But Doty knew Gaston College president Dr. John Hauser had a deal with Gastonia city officials for the team's homefield of Sims Legion Park to be upgraded as soon as the upcoming fall 2021 drills were completed.

So Doty, new assistant coaches Jacob Rand and K.J. McAllister, went about the task of recruiting players that would comprise what would become a historic first-year title team.

Officially nicknamed "Rhinos" in August, the final roster was composed of 25 players that transferred from other college and nine others came in with high school experience. Players came from North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas. (Four original players eventually left and four other players were added in December.)

"Based on a couple of the early signees that we had and some of the guys that came in that were willing to transfer, we felt pretty good about what we were doing," Doty said. "So, on paper, we looked pretty good. But we had to see what it would look like once we got on the field."

After practicing and playing at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park in the fall, the facility underwent a major renovation as turf field replaced the natural grass that had been in place since the facility had opened in 1950 and new locker rooms were done.

Even then, it took until late March for Sims Legion Park to officially re-open as the Rhinos practiced and played in early 2022 at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park that is home to the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.

Adding to the challenge were the aggressive goals Doty used to recruit his talented roster.

"We told the guys that we would have high expectations, even as we knew we weren't going to be eligible to play in the postseason," Doty said. "Those goals meant there would be things that we were playing for.
"The first goal was to play as difficult a schedule as we could. We didn't play any (four-year) college JV teams. We didn't play any high school developmental teams or academies or anything like that.
"We felt that if we did that and won 40 games playing against some of the best teams in our region that we'd get ranked. So our schedule was as hard as we could make it."

After adding Gaston College met that goal with a 19-0 start that helped them draw the school's first ranking in any sport on March 1 and kept the Rhinos in the national rankings of all three National Junior College Athletic Association polls all season; When Gaston College finished its regular season schedule, it was ranked No. 5 in two final regular season polls and No. 12 in another.

"We managed to attain all of those goals," Doty said. "And finishing 41-9 is something pretty special."

At season's end, Gaston College honored 10 players who helped build the program - Charleston Southern transfer Christian Baker, Charlotte 49ers transfers Gus Hughes, Chandler Riley and Zach Zedalis, Cleveland Community College transfers Patrick Hogan and Logan Rose, North Carolina A&T transfer Alex Hall, N.C. Central transfer Ahmir Cournier, Southeastern Community College transfer Hayden Myrick and UNC Greensboro transfer Marlowe Iorio.

Also, Doty was named Region 10 Division II coach of the year after guiding the Rhinos to a first-place 30-6 record in the West Division of Region 10 and pitcher-outfielder Konni Durschlag, infielder Riley, relief pitcher Baker, designated hitter J.D. Yakubinis, infielder Cournier, outfielder Wade Kelly and pitcher Hughes were given All-Region 10 honors.