Jack Mahoney delivers in debut, South Carolina sweeps UMass Lowell

The echos of South Carolina baseball’s video intro started and Jack Mahoney took the first steps out of the dugout and into his junior season.

He crouched down, a moment of quiet reflection away from the team, relishing this moment. 

When I went out there I took a minute to take it all in,” he said. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about for such a long time.”

He jogged back onto the mound for a game for the first time in 656 days–when he tore his UCL against North Florida–and fired a 95-mile-per-hour fastball for a strike. Four pitches later, he struck out the first batter he faced en route to striking out the side.

“I think two years’ worth of emotions came out from me and said some things I shouldn’t have,” Mahoney said. “It was just so great. I was blessed to be out there today.” 

That set the tone early for Mahoney, who was electric in his first start since 2021, throwing up 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball while piling up a career-best nine strikeouts in a 12-1 win over UMass Lowell.

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Mahoney–who woke up at 4 a.m. and struggled to go back to sleep he was so wired–struck out the side in the first, capped with raw emotion coming off the field with fist pumps entering the dugout. That was just the start. 

The Gamecocks’ right-hander struck out seven of the first 10 batters he faced, scattering three hits over his first four innings. 

And South Carolina (3-0) needed that kind of dominance from Mahoney early with an offense that struggled to gain its footing until the fifth inning. 

“Being a part of this moment for him, it’s a huge day for him and his family,” Cole Messina said. “I’m glad I’m part of it. I knew it was going to be awesome after the bullpen. His bullpen was elite stuff. I was excited. I was shaking my head at my dad I was so excited.” 

Sunday’s box score

The Gamecocks mustered just one hit over the first four innings, struggling against UMass Lowell starter Matt Draper. 

That changed in the fifth inning. After two quick outs, Carson Hornung blooped a double down the left-field line. Braylen Wimmer broke the deadlock with a worm-burning RBI single up the middle. 

“He had stuff you would see at the higher ends of college baseball. He was 92 with some really serious sink and also had a slider that kept us off balance. He’s a good pitcher,” Kingston said.

“It took us a couple of times through the lineup to figure out how to attack it. Wimmer’s RBI up the middle opened the floodgates and took a little bit of that pressure off. From there guys were really locked in

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Floodgates opened after that. South Carolina chased Draper three batters later thanks, in part, to a three-run homer from Cole Messina that landed roughly 10 rows up the left-field grandstand.

He finished with a team-best four RBI Sunday and is hitting .400 in the infancy of the season.  

“That pitcher was getting a little cocky and wasn’t very humble about it,” Messina said. “He was feeling good, obviously. That blew us up as a team. I was really excited about that.” 

Gavin Casas put the final exclamation point on the inning. He launched a 409-foot home run, the first of two bombs for him Sunday.

It landed over the Gamecocks’ bullpen that was pretty enough to be admired before his trot around the bases. 

After that Mahoney motored through the first two batters in the sixth before a pair of singles. His day was done after that, exiting after 76 pitches and a standing ovation. 

“You never know until you see it out there,” Kingston said. “But when the lights go on and it’s for real you want to see if they handle it properly. He did. He had building towards that…Today is what we want Jack to look like.”

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South Carolina’s Friday ace, Will Sanders, was the first to meet him off the mound. The lanky righty delivered a bear hug before Mahoney went into the dugout. The smile never faded from Mahoney’s face. 

“Man. Just it was all worth it. I knew there was going to be a moment when I was working in the dark that I did the right thing. That was kind of the moment. I caught a glimpse of my mom and dad and that was a neat moment for me,” Mahoney said.

“The coolest moment for me was the fans were unbelievable. Seeing my teammates and best friends coming to jump on me, I’ll never forget that moment.” 

He only allowed five baserunners over his outing, all singles, and never walked anyone. Mahoney never let a runner get to second base until the sixth inning. 

Cade Austin got out of the jam to preserve the shutout, striking out Robert Gallagher swinging. 

South Carolina busted the game open with three more runs in the sixth while adding two more in the seventh to cruise to its third-straight victory. 

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Up next: The Gamecocks are back at Founders Park for a pair of midweek games this week starting Tuesday. South Carolina hosts Winthrop at 4 p.m. Tuesday with the game streamed on the SEC Network Plus. 

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