No. 2 Gaston College's season comes to end in Region 10 championship

No. 2 Gaston College finished with the best baseball record in school history following a loss in the Region 10 championship game at Lexington County, S.C., Baseball Stadium.

The Rhinos, who finished with a 54-5 overall record, came into Monday's action needing to beat No. 9 Florence Darlington Tech twice.

And Gaston College handled the Stingers 16-2 in the first game that started at 11 a.m. before dropping a 8-3 decision in the nightcap that sends Florence Darlington Tech into this weekend's East District tournament against Harford, Md.

The Rhinos finished the tournament with a 3-2 record, losing only to Florence Darlington Tech, and banged out 54 hits while scoring 54 runs led by Joey Nicholson (9 hits, double, 4 home runs, 14 RBIs), Nick Diehl (8 hits, 3 home runs, 10 RBIs), Caden Davidson (7 hits, double, home run, 8 RBIs), Logan Ponnett (7 hits, home run, 3 RBI), David Nicks (6 hits, double, home run, 4 RBIs), Gabe Simmons (5 hits, 2 RBIs), Koy Swanson (4 hits, double, 2 home runs, 6 RBIs) and Tyler Cook (4 hits, double, 2 RBIs).

In Monday's blowout win over Florence Darlington Tech, Nicholson, Swanson and Diehl hit two home runs apiece and reliever Travis Smith pitched four innings of relief for the win.

The loss ended the careers of 25 sophomores who helped Gaston College to 95 victories and extend its streak of being ranked in each of its five seasons since the program restarted in 2022.

"We're not going to let this define us as a team," Rhinos coach Shohn Doty said of the season-ending defeat. "I think this team will go down as one of the best we've ever had here.
"But, right now, it's a tough pill to swallow and I just feel so bad for the players and so bad for the coaches."
"The bar's set high here. And we're the ones that set it. Coming off a game like that, we've got to finish it with a championship and we just weren't able to get it done."

The Region 10 tournament results and schedule at Lexington County Baseball Stadium in Lexington SC:

(Friday, May 1)
Game 1- No. 4 USC Union vs. No. 5 USC Lancaster - USC Lancaster 9-3
Game 2- No. 3 USC Sumter vs. No. 6 USC Salkehatchie - USC Sumter 11-0 in 6
Game 3- No. 1 Gaston College vs. USC Lancaster - Gaston College 13-3 in 5
Game 4- No. 2 Florence Darlington Tech vs. USC Sumter - Florence Darlington Tech 6-1

(Saturday, May 2)
Game 5- USC Lancaster vs. USC Salkehatchie - USC Lancaster 12-2 in 5
Game 6- USC Union vs. USC Sumter - USC Union 7-4

(Sunday, May 3)
Game 7- Gaston College vs. Florence Darlington Tech - Florence Darlington Tech 4-1
Game 8- USC Lancaster vs. USC Union - USC Union 9-4
Game 9- USC Union vs. Gaston College - Gaston College 21-1 in 5

(Monday, May 4)
Game 10- Florence Darlington Tech vs. Gaston College - Gaston College 16-2
Game 11- Gaston College vs. Florence Darlington Tech - Florence Darlington Tech 8-3