Gaston College knocks off Surry Community College

Gaston College's nationally-ranked baseball team took an 8-2 win over visiting Surry Community College at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park on Wednesday afternoon.

And while pleased with the result, Rhinos' head coach Shohn Doty is pushing for even more from his team after it improved to 17-2 overall.

"I understand that we're 17-2, but it's not about you play the opponent, it's about how you play the game," Doty said. "And I just don't think we've played the game the way we're capable of playing the last two or three opportunities.
"So it's back to work tomorrow (at practice) and play better on Saturday. And then we're in the middle of March and we've got conference play starting soon."

The Rhinos, ranked No. 14 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I poll earlier this week, allowed a first-run run on a fielding misplay, yielded 12 hits and had nine hits while stranding three runners in scoring position.

"We responded well enough today to get a 'W,'" Doty said. "But I'm not sure it's the kind of response that gets us to a district title and gets us to the World Series. And those are my goals for this team.
"These are individual opportunities as a team and the main goal is to be playing our best in May. We're not playing the way I want us to be playing in May."

Starter and winner Derek Vartanian went six innings with six strikeouts for the victory with David Sande (6 strikeouts in 2 innings) and Sawyer Sutton (1 strikeout in 1 inning) finishing up.

Wade Kelly (2 hits, 4 RBIs, 2 doubles), Enrique Wood (2 hits, 1 RBI) and Adam Quintero (home run) led the Rhinos' offense.

"We're 17-2 and ranked in all the polls," Doty said. "Sometimes, when you get to that point, you start to believe that stuff rather than playing the game. We've still got to play the game the right way."

Gaston College hosts Pro 5 Academy for a noon doubleheader on Saturday, then travels to Brunswick Community College next Tuesday for a 2 p.m. game before opening Region 10 Division I play with back-to-back 1 p.m. doubleheaders at USC Sumter on March 11 and March 12.