Gaston College takes NJCAA World Series win, sets more history with 50th victory

   Gaston College's offense erupted for 20 hits and starter and winner Nolan Straniero pitched four no-hit innings as the Rhinos took a 13-6 victory over Shelton State, Ala., in a National Junior College Athletic Association elimination game on Tuesday afternoon at Sam Suplizio Field in Grand Junction, Col., in front of a crowd of 3,122.

    The win advanced Gaston College (50-12) into Wednesday's 4 p.m. elimination game against Blinn, Tex. The game will be a rematch of Sunday's opening round game won 9-3 by Blinn.

    The Rhinos set two significant milestones in Tuesday's victory.

    Not only was it the school's first World Series victory in its first try but Gaston College becomes only the eighth team in Region 10 history to win 50 games in a single season - and first since 2009.

    Previous Region 10 teams to reach the 50-win milestone are Louisburg (51-11) and Spartanburg Methodist (51-10) in 2002, Spartanburg Methodist (50-16) in 2003, Spartanburg Methodist (54-15) in 2007, Lenoir Community College (54-12) in 2008 and Spartanburg Methodist (55-9) and USC Sumter (52-11) in 2009. Lenoir Community College was a Division II school while the others were Division I like Gaston College this season.

    "Forty wins is benchmark and 50 wins is just something you dream about," Rhinos coach Shohn Doty said. "From a college baseball standpoint, 50 wins is really unheard of and it doesn't happen very often.

   "In a season of firsts, we were able to chalk another one up - and one that's pretty impressive and likely will stand for awhile."

    In Tuesday's victory, Gaston College never trailed as it scored once in the top of the first and added two runs in the third, one in the fourth, three in the fifth, two in the seventh and four in the ninth.

    Shelton State cut the margin to 6-3 after five innings and 8-5 after seven but got no closer.

    "The game plan was great," said Doty, who credited assistants K.J. McAllister and Jacob Rand for correctly targeting what would be successful for his team. "We had traffic all day. And we had traffic all day in the last game. The difference was today we put at-bats together and guys had huge hits for us.

   "Anytime you get 20 hits, I mean, my goodness. So the offense was really great."

    Preston Hall (4 hits, 4 RBIs, 2 doubles, home run), Andrew Muraco (3 hits, 1 RBI, double), Konni Durschlag (2 hits, 1 RBI), Wade Kelly (2 hits, 1 RBI, 3 stolen bases), Trey Truitt (2 hits, 1 RBI, double), Adam Quintero (2 hits, 2 RBIs, home run), Seth Christmas (2 hits, 2 stolen bases), Miller St. John (2 hits, 1 RBI, home run) and Enrique Wood (1 hit) led an offense in which all nine starters got at least one hit and  also drew six walks.

    Straniero opened with four shutout innings and got the win after being relieved in the bottom of the fifth inning that came after a long top of the fifth.

    "Nolan's start was really impressive to say the least," Doty said. "He had command of three pitches. I think the long layoff kind of bothered him in the fifth. But the guys out of the pen came in and did a good job for us."

    Straniero had seven strikeouts in his 4 2/3 innings before relievers Landon Carr (2 innings), David Sande (1 1/3 innings) and J.D. Everett (1 inning) closed out the win.

    The full NJCAA Division I World Series results and pairings (with seeding, district title won followed by team and record):

   (Saturday, May 27)

Game 1: No. 4 Southwest- Weatherford, Tex. (50-9) vs. No. 7 South Central- Delgado, La. (45-11) - Weatherford 10-9

Game 2: No. 1 South Atlantic- Central Florida (51-6) vs. No. 10 Appalachian- Andrew, Ga. (34-23) - Central Florida 12-0 in 5

Game 3: No. 2 Plains- Johnson County, Kansas (55-8) vs. No. 9 South- Shelton State, Ala. (31-28) - Shelton State 6-5 in 10

Game 4: No. 3 Midwest- Wabash Valley, Ill. (53-11) vs. No. 8 West- Salt Lake, Utah (31-18) - Wabash Valley 9-8

   (Sunday, May 28)

Game 5: No. 5 Mid-South- Blinn, Tex. (44-13) vs. No. 6 East- Gaston College (49-11) - Blinn 9-3

Game 6: Delgado, La. vs. Andrew, Ga. - Delgado 11-5 (Andrew eliminated)

Game 7: Johnson County, Kansas vs. Salt Lake, Utah - Johnson County 16-4 in 5 (Salt Lake eliminated)

   (Monday, May 29)

Game 8: Shelton State, Ala. vs. Wabash Valley, Ill. - Wabash Valley 6-5

Game 9: Delgado, La. vs. Johnson County, Kansas - Delgado 14-4 in 5 (Johnson County eliminated)

Game 10: Weatherford, Tex. vs. Central Florida - Weatherford 14-6 in 7

 (Tuesday, May 30)
Game 11: Gaston College vs. Shelton State, Ala. - Gaston College 13-6 (Shelton State eliminated)
Game 12: Central Florida vs. Delgado, La. - Central Florida 12-9 (Delgado eliminated)
Game 13: Wabash Valley, Ill. vs. Blinn, Tex. - Wabash Valley 16-6 in 6

(Wednesday, May 31)
Game 14: Gaston College vs. Blinn, Tex., 4 p.m. ET
Game 15: Weatherford, Tex. vs. Wabash Valley, Ill., 9 p.m. ET   (Tuesday, May 30)

   (Thursday, June 1)

Game 16: Game 14 winner vs. Game 15 loser, 5 p.m. ET

Game 17: Game 15 winner vs. Game 12 winner, 9 p.m. ET

   (Friday, June 2)

Game 18: Game 17 winner vs. Game 16 winner, 9 p.m. ET

   (Saturday, June 3)

Game 19 (if necessary): If Game 17 winner loses Game 18