Gaston College splits DH to pick up 40th win of the season

Gaston College picked up its second win over a nationally-ranked National Junior College Athletic Association Division I opponent while also recording its 40th win for a second straight season in a doubleheader split at Florence Darlington Tech.

After losing a 7-6 heartbreaker in the opener on Sunday, the Rhinos used a late rally to win 7-4 in the nightcap.

The results give Gaston College a 40-8 overall record and 16-6 Region 10 Division I record. The Rhinos, ranked No. 11 in the current National Junior College Athletic Association poll and No. 4 in thejbb.net poll, No. 6 in the Dream Big Athletics poll and No. 9 in the Perfect Game poll, will be the No. 2 seed in the May 5-8 Region 10 championship tournament at the Lexington County, S.C., Stadium.

"It means a lot that we got 40 wins, which was really tough to do with so many games rained out," said Gaston College coach Shohn Doty, whose team has had six Region 10 games cancelled this year by inclement weather. "At 40-8 with back-to-back 40-win seasons, that's kind of the benchmark of championship-type programs."

No. 8 Florence Darlington Tech (43-8, 20-3) clinched the regular season title on Saturday and will be the No. 1 seed in the Region 10 tournament

In the opening game, Gaston College built leads of 2-1 and 5-3 before the host Stingers took a 6-5 lead after five innings. The Rhinos forced extra innings with a sixth-inning run before Florence Darlington Tech took the win with an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth.

In the nightcap, Gaston College led 4-0 before the Stingers forged a 4-all tie after five innings. The Rhinos then took the win as Trey Truitt hit a solo home run and Pierson Gunnell hit a 2-run home run in a 3-run sixth inning.

Adam Quintero (5 hits, double, 1 RBI), Konni Durschlag (4 hits, double, 2 RBIs), Andrew Muraco (4 hits, double, 1 RBI) and Enrique Wood (3 hits, double) led Gaston College's 23-hit offense on Sunday.

On the mound, Derek Vartanian started the opener and went six innings yielding seven hits and six runs (one earned) before Landon Carr was the hard-luck loser and five pitchers were used in the nightcap with Jaxson Mangum picking up the victory with three strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings and Tyler Parks getting a save after retiring all three batters he faced in the seventh.

Parks was pitching for the second time this season and first time since Feb. 11.

"There's a lot of positives to take away from this," said Doty, whose second-year program went 41-9 last season. "It wasn't the weekend we were looking for, but we know that we have a chance to go to that tournament and compete. So we learned a lot of things and showed a lot of resilience."

Gaston College plays at No. 1-ranked Walters State on Wednesday at 2 p.m. then ends its regular season on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park against against Hosanna Bible College on "Sophomore Day;" The Rhinos split a Feb. 5 home doubleheader with Walters State earlier this season.

"We want to go to Walters State and play well against the No. 1 team in the country," Doty said. "Then the focus will go to 'Sophomore Day' and those guys who have meant so much to our program."