Gaston College pitchers impressive in three-game Region 10 sweep

Gaston College's baseball team recorded its second straight Region 10 Division I series victory and first sweep of the season while extending its winning streak to six games with a single win on Friday and a doubleheader sweep on Saturday.

The Rhinos won 16-0 by the "mercy rule" in five innings on Friday, then won 8-5 in Saturday's opener and 11-0 by the "mercy rule" again in the nightcap.

"The three starters threw really well, we got 25 punch outs from the pitchers and we were pretty much on the barrel all weekend," Gaston College coach Shohn Doty said.

The Rhinos, ranked No. 11 in the JBB.net, No. 16 in the Perfect Game and No. 17 in the Dream Big Athletics polls, improved to 21-7-1 overall and 8-4 in Region 10 Division I action.

Gaston College's offense banged out 30 hits and scored in 12 of 17 innings this weekend.

David Nicks (5 hits, double, 5 RBIs), Chris Hendrickson (4 hits, 2 doubles, 5 RBIs), Joey Nicholson (4 hits, double, home run, 5 RBIs), Brandon Crabtree (4 hits, 2 RBIs), Koy Swanson (3 hits, 2 doubles, home run, 6 RBIs), Holden Cooper (3 hits, home run, 2 RBIs), Nick Lundquist (3 hits, 2 RBIs) and Sam Dansky (2 hits, 2 RBIs) led the Rhinos' offense.

On the mound, all three Rhinos' starters were effective and picked up victories.

Conner Frail threw a two-hitter with four strikeouts in 51 pitches in the opener, Noah Zimmerman went six innings with 12 strikeouts in the second game and Daniel Parris threw a five-hitter with eight strikeouts in 76 pitches in the finale.

"Now we've got a chance to do some things," Doty said. "We're home for three straight weeks. We really need to take advantage of that."

The Rhinos will take a six-game winning streak into the start of the 13-game homestand at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park on Wednesday at 2 p.m. against Cleveland Community College, which was ranked No. 23 in last week's National Junior College Athletic Association Division II poll.