Gaston College second baseman back for another year with high hopes for Rhinos
When Miller St. John first enrolled at Gaston College in the late summer of 2021, he wasn't sure what to expect from the first-year program.
It didn't take long for him to realize he was a part of something few expected - a top National Junior College Athletic Association baseball program.
"As a college freshman, it was a little intimidating coming to a school that I knew nothing about," said St. John, an infielder from Waxhaw's Marvin Ridge High School. "I knew I was taking a big risk. But I followed the course.
"When (Gaston College head coach Shohn) Doty brought me in, everything he told us happened - from the (upgraded Sims Legion Park) field, to the (Nike) gear to the success on the field."
Did it ever as Gaston College followed a strong fall 2021 season against four-year opposition by winning the first 19 games of the season and later earning the school's first-ever national ranking in any sport and taking a conference championship in the Rhinos' first year of competition.
St. John, who began the season at shorstop and moved over to play second base, hit .289 with 23 RBIs in 38 games as Gaston College finished 41-9 overall and 30-6 to win the West Division championship of Region 10's Division II.
"Going in, it was a task," St. John said of the startup program. "But it also was something we knew we were capable of after the first couple of days of practice."
St. John also lived through the makeover of a historic ballpark.
Opened in 1950 as a wooden structure and redone in 1977 as a concrete structure, earlier this year the field was replaced with synthetic turf in the third majore renovation of the facility.
It meant the Rhinos played their first 10 games at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park that is the home of the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball before moving back to Sims Legion Park for the rest of the season on March 20.
St. John and shortstop Enrique Wood formed a solid middle infield combination and were surrounded by
With future collegians Chandler Riley (Campbell) and Ahmir Cournier (Young Harris) at third base and first base, respectively, the Rhinos started 19-0 and 27-1 before closing with 14 wins in the last 22 games as they clinched an unprecedented title for a first-year program.
The only bad news?
Since Gaston College was a startup team, it was ineligible to participate in national competition.
That's not the case this year as the Rhinos have moved up from NJCAA Division II to NJCAA Division I while also maintaining high expectations.
"Last year was more of a learning curve," St. John said. "Now since we have a lot of guys with experience, it's easier to teach for the new guys to understand because we can teach them and help them understand that all we do is based on getting to Grand Junction."
Grand Junction, of course, is the Colorado site of the NJCAA Division I World Series.
"It's a consensus around this team that it's Grand Junction or bust," St. John said.
To get ready for this season, St. John played for the Carolina Vipers of the Southern Collegiate Baseball League this summer at Charlotte Latin. Among his teammates were Wood, 2022 teammate Patrick Hogan (who's headed to Catawba College) and incoming Rhinos' recruits Preston Hall and Gabe Hernandez.
With last year's success and this year's high expectations, St. John knows the Rhinos will get the best shot of their opponents this season - and he's prepared for it.
"We had a target on our back after we started out pretty successful last season," St. John said. "But that's what we wanted. We didn't want to be hunting a target. We'd rather be the hunted and be the target. And now, from last year, we have experience with that. We know we have to play every opponent like it's the best."