Four Gaston College returnees eager for 2025 season to get started
When Gaston College finished the 2024 season with a 51-8 record, the accomplishments were many:
- School record for victories
- No. 1 national ranking for five weeks in the Dream Big Athletics poll, four weeks in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll, two weeks in the 2-Year Baseball poll and one week in the Perfect Game poll
- Six All-Region 10 selections (Ben Karpowicz, Freddie Oliver, Seth Christmas, Mason Smith, Landon Carr and Andrew Muraco) that included pitcher of the year Mason Smith, relief pitcher of the year Carr and defensive player of the year Karpowicz
While all of those Rhinos' honorees are off to colleges across the country, coach Shohn Doty's team is eager to have more success in the 2025 season.
And four of the team's 12 returning players - pitcher Conner Frail, infielders Brandon Crabtree and Gabe Simmons and outfielder Justin Smith - have high goals after getting playing time on last year's team.
Frail went 5-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 10 starts a year ago, while Crabtree hit .331 with six home runs and 56 RBIs in 49 games, Simmons .211 with one home run and five RBIs in 22 games and Justin Smith .347 with one home run and nine RBIs in 25 games.
"The goal is to be No. 1 again and hold it throughout the entire season and get to (Grand Junction) Colorado (for the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series) and win it all," Justin Smith said before a recent fall practice session. "We want to compete at the highest level."
To get ready for this season, Justin Smith spent the offseason training with his older brother Myles Smith in Milwaukee, Wis.
The brothers grew up in Detroit, Mich., with Myles Smith being drafted twice and choosing to sign with the Boston Red Sox after he was a fourth-round major league draft pick in 2013; Myles Smith advances as high as Class AAA with the Arizona Diamondbacks' organization during his nine-year career.
"I didn't play any games," said Justin Smith, a 5-foot-11, 185-pounder who graduated from Lincolnton's Combine Academy in 2023. "I just trained with my brother in Milwaukee. And I trained, gained weight and worked on my swing."
Crabtree followed a similar path in the summer.
"I didn't play at all," said Crabtree, who transferred to Gaston College from N.C. State in January 2024. "I just worked out trying to get my swing right. I went home and worked with my hitting coach and worked on defense and my swing."
Almost exclusively a designated hitter last season, Crabtree is hopeful of playing first base this season for the Rhinos.
"Last year I was more on the DH role," Crabtree said. "Hopefully, I can get on the glove side at first base. But it's whatever they need me for."
Frail and Simmons played in the North Carolina-based Southern Collegiate Baseball League.
Frail, a 2023 Winston-Salem R.J. Reynolds High graduate, took time off due to an elbow injury he suffered late last season before he pitched in two games (one start) for the Winston-Salem-based Carolina Disco Turkeys.
"I went on a throwing program that (Gaston College pitching coach Kyler) Johnston and Doty gave me before throwing about five innings this summer," Frail said. "I feel really good about last year. And I feel really good coming into this year. My arm feels good. I'm ready to compete and get that No. 1 (starting pitching) spot."
Simmons, a Fort Mill, S.C. Nation Ford 2023 High graduate, played for the Charlotte-based Queen City Corndogs, who finished as SCBL semifinalits.
"It was a lot of fun," Simmons said. "It was a 60-game season so I ended up with 200 ABs."
A backup middle infielder a year ago, Simmons said he expects to have "the same kind of the same role. I'm a big utility player. I'm doing whatever I can do to get on the field. And I'm still working at shortstop."
Simmons also echoed his teammates' high hopes for 2025.
"I just want to win and make it back to Colorado," said Simmons, who was recruited to Gaston College soon after the Rhino advanced to the 2023 World Series. "I want us to win and have fun doing it."