Program builders to be honored at Gaston College's Saturday "Sophomore Day"

When Gaston College program began baseball practice in the fall of 2021, all the Rhinos had to sell were soon-to-be renovated stadium upgrades and the potential of building a winning program.

Two years in, even those involved are surprised at how quickly and how successful the program has already been.

And on Saturday at 5 p.m., 23 players - including 12 who have been a part of both seasons - will be honored for their roles as program architects.

"I think the guys that have been with us for two years have really done something for this program," Doty said. "We talked about building foundation and building upon it. And they stayed with us for two years and put us on the map.
"I didn't know that we would have the kind of success that we've had. It's a tribute to them. And we appreciate them buying into our vision of what we thought this was going to be. And then we've added more kids this season that have contributed so much to our program as well."

The 12 two-year players are catcher-infielder J.D. Yakubinis, infielder Miller St. John, infielder Enrique Wood, pitcher David Sande, outfielder Hayden Brandon, outfielder Wade Kelly, outfielder Konni Durschlag, pitcher Hunter Shew, pitcher J.D. Everett, pitcher Tyler Parks, catcher Pierson Gunnell and infielder Matthew Dobson.

The 11 one-year players are outfielder Trey Truitt, infielder-outfielder Adam Quintero, pitcher Derek Vartanian, pitcher Nolan Straniero, infielder Preston Hall, pitcher Darrell Johnson, pitcher Hayden Ridenhour, pitcher Alex Jankowski, pitcher Kyle McKernan, pitcher Jaxson Mangum and pitcher Evan Lewis.

All 23 departing players are slated to graduate from Gaston College either this spring or summer and 10 have already signed or committed to play a four-year schools and several others are expected to do so in the next few months; Wood (North Carolina A&T), Kelly (Gardner-Webb), Everett (UNC Wilmington), Straniero (Elon), Hall (Gardner-Webb) and Mangum (Lenoir-Rhyne) signed last fall and Yakubinis (East Tennessee State), Sande (Radford), Durschlag (High Point) and Vartanian (Campbell) made commitments this spring.

"I'm not trying to think about it but I'm pretty sure we'll all be emotional," Everett said. "I will be for sure. Being here for two years and calling this place home, it's been a special place for me."

Everett and Shew were the most experienced pitchers returning from last year's 41-9 debut season in which the Rhinos won the regular season title of the Region 10 Division II's Western Conference; Kelly, Durschlag, Yakubinis, St. John, Wood and Gunnell were starters a year ago with Kelly, Durschlag and Yakubinis earning All-Region 10 honors.

"We weren't really sure what to expect," Everett said.

At the time, Gastonia's Sims Legion Park was still a grass and dirt playing surface with locker room facilities that were used for nearly 20 years by the old Gastonia Grizzlies wood bat summertime Coastal Plain League team.

As soon as the Rhinos completed fall drills in 2021, Gaston College and the City of Gastonia combined effort to fund a renovation of Sims Legion Park that included full field turf and upgraded locker rooms.

"What it's turned into is beyond what we could've expected and it's been a great place to call home," said Everett, whose team played its first 10 home games of the 2022 season at Gastonia's brand new CaroMont Health Park before returning to Sims Legion Park on a fulltime basis in March.

Gaston College's first-year team quickly gained local and national attention by winning its first 19 games that helped it gain the first National Junior College Athletic Association rankings in school history - The Rhinos climbed as high as No. 2 in one poll - before setting a standard with a regular season title.

The championship extended what is believed to be the country's longest streak of league titles for a school that stopped and restarted its program to five years as Gaston College had won four straight old North Carolina Community College Conference titles from 1968 to 1972 before the school disbanded its athletic program.

The program's startup nature with players from all over the country coming together for the common good drew the attention of The New York Times, which published a story on the program on May 3, 2022.

"Last year, we joked about this being 'Last Chance U' because we came here with nothing but a vision that we were going to create something," Yakubinis said in a reference to the Netflix series by that name that ran from 2016 to 2020 about the East Mississippi Community College football program. "We've put our heart and soul into this place and we've seen what it's become and what it can be in the future."

As one of the key returnees, Kelly said the goals were set high from the first day of 2022 fall drills for the ongoing 2023 season as the Rhinos upgraded from Region 10 Division II to Region 10 Division I with a goal of making the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Col., next month.

"We've talked about that a lot," Kelly said. "The standard was set last year and we said, 'What are we going to do about it this year?'
"We knew we had a mix of transfers and freshmen and we had to teach them what we learned last year and add that in with what the coaches have taught them. I think we've definitely built a winning culture here."

The fast building blocks have already paid dividends as Straniero was at nearby UNC Charlotte before coming to Gaston College - and his roommate during the fall semester of 2021 was eventual Rhinos' star pitcher Gus Hughes; Hughes transferred to Gaston College in January, emerged as Rhinos' pitching ace with an 8-1 record, the school's first no-hitter and first NJCAA national player of the week honors.

"He had nothing but good things to say about the place," Straniero said of Hughes, who is currently a top starting pitcher for High Point University. "When I visited, I met with the coaches and met with coach Doty and I felt this was a really good place and a good place for me."

After Saturday's "Sophomore Day," the Rhinos will play in the Region 10 tournament May 5-8 whose winner advances and will host the May 11-14 NJCAA District tournament.

Regular season champion Florence Darlington Tech is already guaranteed a berth in the district tournament that sends its winner to the NJCAA World Series. And should FloDar win the region tournament, the Region 10 tournament runner-up would get the second berth.

Both Gaston College (40-9 overall and 16-6 in Region 10) and Florence Darlington Tech (45-9, 20-3) have been ranked all season long - Gaston is No. 17 and FloDar No. 6 in the current NJCAA poll.

"We've helped create the winning culture for this place," Yakubinis said. "The first year, we were a winning program. The second year, we doing the same thing. So we've built a winning culture here and developing a reputation for this place that we can maintain years from now for this place."

Added Everett: "Being a part of the first two teams at this school means a lot. Being a part of that first-year group was really special. I know it means a lot to all the second-year guys. And, you know, we're going to have a good bit of guys coming back next year and I expect they will keep pace with what's gone on in the first two years."