Gaston College loses on Monday, but has another chance for Region 10 title on Tuesday

Gaston College's baseball team gets another chance to wrap up the Region 10 championship and hosting duties for the upcoming National Junior College Athletic Association Eastern District tournament on Tuesday morning.

After taking an early lead on Monday afternoon, upstart USC Lancaster rallied to win 8-2 and force an 11 a.m. "winner take all" finale on Tuesday at Lexington County Stadium in Lexington, S.C.

The Rhinos (44-10) were the last unbeaten left in the 8-team, double-elimination tournament before losing to the No. 5 seeded Lancers (32-19), who have now defeated No. 1 seed Florence Darlington Tech, No. 2 seed Gaston College and No. 4 seed Spartanburg Methodist (twice) in the tournament.

The Rhinos got a strong starting pitching effort from J.D. Everett and led 2-0 after Preston Hall drove in Wade Kelly with a RBI single and Trey Truitt scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the first inning.

Everett struck out seven batters in six innings before being relieved with Gaston College clinging to a 2-1 lead.

USC Lancaster struck for two runs in the seventh inning, four in the eighth inning and one in the ninth off Rhinos' relievers.

Truitt had two hits, including a double, with Truitt collecting a double - to lead Gaston College's 7-hit offense.

Lancers reliever Jeffrey Hays, making his first relief appearance of the year after 12 starts, limited the Rhinos to five hits in five innings to pick up the victory.

Tanner Henderson had three hits and Edwin Olmeda and Joe Sperry two each to lead the Lancers' 9-hit offense.

Tuesday morning's winner will host the 4-team 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.

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

Gaston College is ranked No. 12 in the NJCAA poll and No. 11 in thejbb.net poll.

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) - USC Lancaster 5-4 in 11
Game 4: No. 1 Florence Darlington Tech (47-9, 20-3) vs. No. 8 USC Salkehatchie (4-41, 3-18) - Florence Darlington Tech 12-2 in 5
(Saturday, May 6)
Game 5: USC Union vs. Louisburg - USC Union 8-6 (Louisburg eliminated)
Game 6: Spartanburg Methodist vs. USC Salkehatchie - Spartanburg Methodist 10-0 in 6 (USC Salkehatchie eliminated)
Game 7: USC Sumter vs. Gaston College - Gaston College 8-0 in 7
Game 8: USC Lancaster vs. Florence Darlington Tech - USC Lancaster 8-5
(Sunday, May 7)
Game 9: Florence Darlington Tech vs. USC Union - USC Union 15-12 (Florence Darlington eliminated)
Game 10: USC Sumter vs. Spartanburg Methodist - Spartanburg Methodist 9-7 (USC Sumter eliminated)
Game 11: Gaston College vs. USC Lancaster - Gaston College 9-6
Game 12: USC Union vs. Spartanburg Methodist - Spartanburg Methodist 11-5 (USC Union eliminated)
(Monday, May 8)
Game 13: USC Lancaster vs. Spartanburg Methodist - USC Lancaster 3-0 (Spartanburg Methodist eliminated)
Game 14: Gaston College vs. USC Lancaster - USC Lancaster 8-2
(Tuesday, May 9)
Game 15: Gaston College vs. USC Lancaster, 11 a.m.