No. 4 Gaston College completes sweep, becomes first N.C. Region 10 Division I regular season champion since 2005

No. 4 Gaston College clinched the 2026 Region 10 regular season baseball championship on Sunday as it completed a three-game road sweep of USC Salkehatchie.

The Rhinos' high-scoring offense led them to an 18-2 win on Saturday and 17-0 and 28-2 victories in a Sunday doubleheader sweep. Each game was stopped by the "mercy" rule after five innings and the series finale saw Gaston College hit a school-record eight home runs.

The results improved the Rhinos to 46-3 overall and 24-3 in Region 10 with five regular season games and three Region 10 games - all at Gastonia's Sims Legion park - left in the regular season.

In wrapping up the regular season title, Gaston College ends a five-year streak of Florence Darlington Tech Region 10 Division I regular season championships. It also ended a streak of Division I regular season titles by South Carolina junior colleges at 20 years; Louisburg in 2005 was the last previous Region 10 Division I North Carolina regular season champion.

"Winning the regular season championship is special," Rhinos coach Shohn Doty said. "It's a culmination of a season-long body of work. So we're proud of it and we'll celebrate it and hang a banner for it."

The offense had 51 hits in 15 innings during the three-game series.

"We were pretty locked in for the weekend," Doty said. "Guys were on the barrel and creating traffic and hitting good pitches. So we were pretty sharp. And everybody that threw this weekend gave us a good effort."

The eight home runs in Sunday's nightcap surpassed three six-home run games - in 2023 and two earlier this season. And the Rhinos' offense has now reached double digits in scoring effort in 38th of their 49 games this season.

Caden Davidson (7 hits, 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 7 RBIs), Gabe Simmons (6 hits, 2 doubles, home run, 6 RBIs), Koy Swanson (6 hits, 4 home runs, 12 RBIs), David Nicks (6 hits, home run, 5 RBIs), Chris Hendrickson (5 hits, hme run, 6 RBIs), Nick Diehl (4 hits, 3 doubles, 1 RBI), Logan Ponnett (3 hits, 2 home runs, 3 RBIs), Holden Cooper (3 hits, double, home run, 4 RBIs), Kandan Zollo (3 home runs, 6 RBIs), Joey Nicholson (2 home runs, 4 RBIs) and Tyler Cook (2 doubles, 2 RBIs) led the Gaston College offense.

On the mound, each of the three starters - Jack Aurelius, Brayden Hill and Dalton Hazlett - went three innings to pick up victories. And Gavin Aldredge, Travis Smith, Cooper Phillips, Ryan Brinkley and Dawson Kehr all were effective while pitching in relief.

The Rhinos last won a regular season title when they were Region 10 Western Division champions in 2022.

Gaston College closes its regular season with non-league home games against Caldwell Tech (April 21 at 1 p.m.) and Rockingham Community College (April 28 at 3 p.m.) wrapped around the three-game Region 10 series finale against USC Lancaster (April 25 1 p.m. doubleheader and April 26 1 p.m. single game).