Gaston College opens Region 10 baseball tournament with impressive victory

Gaston College's first Region 10 baseball tournament game in school history was a success on Friday afternoon as the Rhinos cruised to an 11-3 victory over Louisburg that was shortened by the 8-run mercy rule after seven innings at the Lexington County, S.C., Stadium.

The Rhinos improved to 42-9 overall and advance into a 4 p.m. second round winner's bracket matchup with USC Sumter (33-14).

"We're a win away from getting to that third game, the winner's bracket final," Gaston College coach Shohn Doty said. "And that's what we've talked about doing since we started practice last fall."

The 8-team, double-elimination tournament continues on Saturday and the winner hosts the 4-team National Junior College Athletic Association Eastern District tournament from May 12 to 14. Region 10 regular season champion Florence Darlington Tech has already clinched one berth in that event and the tournament champions of the Region 10, Region 15 and Region 20 round out the field. (If Florence Darlington Tech wins the Region 10 tounament, the tournament runner-up will gain the Region 10's second district playoff berth.)

The winner of district tournament advances to the May 27-June 3 NJCAA World Series at Sam Suplizio Field in Grand Junction, Col.

In Friday's opener, Gaston College right-hander Derek Vartanian pitched a 5-hitter with six strikeouts while yielding five hits, three runs (two earned) and no walks.

Konni Durschlag (3 hits, double, 2 RBIs), Preston Hall (2 hits, double, 2 RBIs), Wade Kelly (1 hit, 1 RBI), Adam Quintero (double), Trey Truitt (1 hit, 2 RBIs), Enrique Wood (1 hit), J.D. Yakubinis (1 RBI) and Miller St. John (2-run double) led a 10-hit offense that scored at least once in six of the seven innings of action capped by a 4-run bottom of the seventh to close out the win.

"That was one of the more complete games we've played and hopefully we can carry that over into tomorrow," Doty said. "Derek set the tempo early and pitched really, really good. I thought today we did a really good job of moving the ball and hitting the ball on the screws.
"It's good to get that first one out of the way and get ready for another one."

Here are the full results and schedule for the Region 10 tournament being played at Lexington County Stadium in Lexington, S.C.:

(Friday, May 5)
Game 1: No. 3 USC Sumter (32-14, 13-7) vs. No. 6 USC Union (19-26, 7-17) - USC Sumter 8-3
Game 2: No. 2 Gaston College (41-9, 16-6) vs. No. 7 Louisburg (25-24-1, 5-13-1) - Gaston College 11-3 in 7
Game 3: No. 4 Spartanburg Methodist (27-19-1, 13-9-1) vs. No. 5 USC Lancaster (28-18, 10-15), 4 p.m.
Game 4: No. 1 Florence Darlington Tech (47-9, 20-3) vs. No. 8 USC Salkehatchie (4-41, 3-18), 7:30 p.m.
(Saturday, May 6)
Game 5: USC Union vs. Louisburg, 9 a.m.
Game 6: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 12:30 p.m.
Game 7: USC Sumter vs. Gaston College, 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.