No. 23 Gaston College wins third straight Region 10 Division I baseball series

No. 23-ranked Gaston College's baseball team took its third stright Region 10 Division I series victory with two wins and one loss against visiting USC Lancaster on Saturday and Sunday at Gastonia's Sims Legion Park.

The Rhinos (25-8-1, 11-5) won 9-5 and 8-0 in seven-inning games in Saturday's doubleheader sweep to extend their winning streak to nine games before losing 4-1 in Sunday's finale.

"We're winning series but when we're at home, we don't just expect to win the series, we expect to sweep the series," Gaston College coach Shohn Doty said. "I'm disappointed for our players, I'm disappointed for our coaches and, quite frankly, that falls on me. We'll get it figured out and we'll be the best version of ourselves when the Region 10 tournament happens in May."

In the series opener, Noah Zimmerman struck out eight of the first 15 batters he faced in a six-inning effort for the victory.

In Saturday's nightcap, Conner Frail threw his fourth shutout of the year - a 3-hitter with four strikeouts - as the Rhinos closed out the win by the "mercy" rule.

In Sunday's finale, Daniel Parris struck out 12 in 8 2/3 innings but was a hard luck loser.

On offense, Joey Nicholson (5 hits, double, home run, 7 RBIs), Brandon Crabtree (4 hits, 2 doubles, 1 RBI), Koy Swanson (3 hits, double, home run, 3 RBIs), David Nicks (3 hits, home run, 1 RBI), Chris Hendrickson (2 hits, double), Elijah Grant (2 hits, home run, 1 RBI) and Holden Cooper (2 hits) led a 24-hit attack in the three games.

Gaston College continues its current 13-game homestand with a 1 p.m. Tuesday doubleheader against the Carolina Rays before a huge Region 10 Division I series against No. 17 Florence-Darlington Tech; The Rhinos host the Stingers in a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday and a 1 p.m. single game on Sunday.