Gaston College finishes a second straight 41-9 regular season on "Sophomore Day"

Gaston College baseball coach Shohn Doty called it a "fitting end" to the Rhinos' second regular season.

After all, Saturday's 14-2 win over visiting Hosanna Bible College at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park gave Gaston College its second straight 41-9 regular season record.

"I told them we're nothing if we're not consistent," Doty said on a day the school honored 23 players and their families on 'Sophomore Day.' "Having two 41-9 seasons is a credit to them and what we've built here."

Twelve of the 23 were two-year players - 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 to be honored were 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.

Seth Christmas (3 hits, double), Kelly (2 hits, triple, 2 RBIs), Andrew Muraco (2 hits, home run, 1 RBI) and Truitt (home run, 4 RBIs) led an 11-hit offense and nine pitchers threw one inning apiece in the victory - Straniero, Mangum, Parks, Sande, Shew, Lewis, Ridenhour, Johnson and Jankowski - while yielding six hits and two walks with 20 strikeouts.

"I thought all nine of them did a really good job," Doty said. "We set the tempo with a lot of strikes. We didn't walk a hitter until the eighth."

Gaston College returns to action on Friday at 12:30 p.m. against Louisburg in the first day of the Region 10 tournament at Lexington County Stadium in Lexington, S.C.

"We'll take a day off and get back to the grind and get ourselves ready to go in what we know is going to be a great tournament," Doty said.

Here are the full Region 10 championship pairings:

(Friday, May 5)
Game 1: USC Sumter vs. USC Union, 9 a.m.
Game 2: Gaston College vs. Louisburg, 12:30 p.m.
Game 3: Spartanburg Methodist vs. USC Lancaster, 4 p.m.
Game 4: Florence Darlington Tech vs. USC Salkehatchie, 7:30 p.m.
(Saturday, May 6)
Game 5: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 9 a.m.
Game 6: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 12:30 p.m.
Game 7: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 8: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 7:30 p.m.
(Sunday, May 7)
Game 9: Game 8 loser vs. Game 5 winner, 12:30 p.m.
Game 10: Game 7 loser vs. Game 6 winner, 9 a.m.
Game 11: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 12: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 7:30 p.m.
(Monday, May 8)
Game 13: Game 11 loser vs. Game 12 winner, noon
Game 14: Game 11 winner vs. Game 13 winner, 4 p.m.
(Tuesday, May 9)
Game 15 (if necessary): If Game 11 winner loses in Game 14, 11 a.m.