Gaston College has impressive DH sweep on cold, rainy Friday

On a cold, rainy day at Sims Legion Park, the toughest battle proved to be the weather.

After a three-hour rain delay complicated by a drainage problem in the visitors' dugout, the Gaston College Rhinos took the field Friday against USC-Union without taking batting practice or infield.

But the Rhinos had no problem generating their own internal heat, putting 36 runs on the scoreboard in 10 innings to sweep the Bantams in Region 10 Division I action.

The nationally ranked Rhinos (35-5, 11-3) continued their recent torrid pace on offense, collecting 29 hits, 12 of them for extra bases, and connecting on four three-run home runs in winning 23-1 and 13-0.

On the mound, the Rhinos got complete games from starting pitchers J.D. Everett and Nolan Straniero, who combined to give up two hits between them.

"We were ready to go with our starting pitching," Rhinos coach Shohn Doty said. "They (Everett and Straniero) had good command of the strike zone with at least two pitches. If we pitch and we play defense, we know that the offense will come."

And how the offense came in torrents in both games. After banging out 17 hits in game one, the Rhinos showed no letdown in game two, scoring six runs in the first inning to take command.

Wade Kelly set the tone with a lead-off triple to left field. Three batters later, Preston Hall doubled in two runs, Enrique Wood singled in a run, and Miller St. John closed out the inning with a two-run single.

Trey Truitt's three-run shot to right center field highlighted the second inning, and Seth Christmas singled in a pair of runs to showcase a four-run third inning.

Meanwhile, Straniero was in control from the start, striking out the side in the top of the first inning. The only hit Straniero allowed was a one-out single in the third inning by USC-Union's Malik Price. He finished with 10 strikeouts and only one walk.

"It's a credit to our guys to come out on a day that was not good and show a really, really good energy level," Doty added.

USC-Union, which dropped to 13-20 overall and 4-12 in Region 10, will try to regroup for another doubleheader Saturday at Sims Legion Park, starting time 1 p.m.

In the opening game of the set, the Rhinos produced eye-popping numbers in their second highest scoring game of the season, topped only by a 24-2 victory over Guilford Tech on March 22.

An 11-run scoring spree in the second inning was highlighted by three-run home runs from Konni Durschlag and Hall. Durschlag hit a towering shot that cleared the fence in center field for his third-round tripper of the season.

Later in the inning, Hall went yard to right field, and the scoring continued with Pierson Gunnell's two-RBI double, another hit by Durschlag, this one a run-scoring double, and finally a single by Adam Quintero to plate the 11th run of the frame. The Rhinos sent 15 batters to the plate in the big inning.

In the third inning, Gunnell stroked another two-RBI double and J.D. Yakubinis belted a three-run home run as the Rhinos scored seven runs.

In the bottom of the fourth, local product Nathan Williams (North Gaston) picked up his second hit of the season in his third at-bat, driving a pitch over the outreached glove of USC-Union shortstop Trent Turner to score the final two Gaston College runs of the game.

"He (Williams) works as hard as anybody in our program, and it's really cool that he is a local guy who gets a couple good at-bats when he has that opportunity. It's all about doing the right thing, whether it's 100 at-bats or 20 at-bats," Doty said.

Players with multiple hits in game one were Durschlag (2-3, four RBIs), Quintero (2-3, two RBIs), Hall (2-2, four RBIs), Gunnell (2-3, three RBIs) and Wood (2-3, RBI).

Starting pitcher Everett went the distance to improve his season record to 6-1. The lefthander struck out the side in the third inning and recorded eight strikeouts for the game while yielding one walk.

The Bantams' only run of the game came on a second-inning homer by Vince Alvarez.