Gaston College's top moments from 2022-23: No. 3 Baseball wins Region 10, NJCAA East district titles
Gaston College baseball coach Shohn Doty had talked since getting hired in the spring of 2021 of how he wanted the school to compete for championships and even host national tournaments at Gastonia's renovated Sims Legion Park.
In the Rhinos' first year of postseason eligibility - and second season overall - the school did just that with a Region 10 tournament title that gave Gaston College the right to host the National Junior College Athletic Association East District tournament.
After a second-place finish in the Region 10 regular season race in the spring, Gaston College's second-year program made its first Region 10 tournament a successful one with a 5-3 victory over USC Lancaster on May 9 at Lexington County Stadium in Lexington, S.C.
The Rhinos then took advantage of their hosting a NJCAA regional by winning the East Division title with two wins over national power and Region 10 regular season champion Florence Darlington Tech on the final day of May 14.
Each tournament needed rallies to come away victorious.
In the Region 10 tournament, Gaston College trailed 1-0 and 2-1 before rallying past USC Lancaster as a 3-run fifth inning gave the Rhinos the lead for good.
Since the school restarted its athletic program having won the last four regular season titles of the old North Carolina Community College Conference each year from 1969 to 1972 and won the Western Division regular season title in 2022 of Region 10's Division II, the tournament title gives Gaston College six straight league regular season titles or conference tournament championships in the last six seasons its has fielded a baseball program. It is believed to be the longest streak of its kind among U.S. colleges and universities.
In the East district tournament, Gaston College lost to Florence Darlington Tech in their first meeting but came through the loser's bracket with three straight victories highlighted by 6-5 and 12-2 victories over the Stingers on the final day.
"It takes an all around effort to get to the World Series," Doty said after winning the district title in front of a vocal crowd at Sims Legion Park. "And that's what we got."
Reliever Straniero retired three of the four batters he faced before he got his second strikeout in 1 1/3 innings to sew up the Region 10 tournament title. And Seth Christmas had two hits, Wade Kelly two RBIs and Adam Quintero a solo home run to lead Gaston College's offense.
On the final day of the East district tournament, eight pitchers combined to hold the No. 12 ranked Stingers to 15 hits and eight runs in two games, highlighted by starter and winner Derek Vartanian's five innings with three strikeouts and reliever Hayden Ridenhour's two innings with three strikeouts for the save in the opener and a strong start from Kyle McKernan (2 innings), 2-inning relief efforts from Sawyer Sutton, Tyler Parks and Jaxson Mangum and one inning from Davis Sande in the second game.
Wade Kelly (4 hits, 3 RBIs), Adam Quintero (4 hits, 5 RBIs), Trey Truitt (3 hits, 5 RBIs) and Miller St. John (3 hits, 1 RBI) led an offense that had 19 hits, drew eight walks and three hit batters while scoring 18 runs on the final day.