Photos: South Carolina completes sweep

Following the same script as the previous two games, South Carolina once again rode dominant pitching and the long ball to complete the sweep over haplass UMass Lowell with a 12-1 win.

Jack Mahoney returned to the mound for the first time following Tommy John surgery and dominated while collecting his first win. Mahoney pitched five and two-thirds shutout innings, striking out nine before leaving to a standing ovation.

The South Carolina power surge continued at the plate as the Gamecocks slugged five more home runs. Gavin Casas had two home runs and three RBIs on the day while Cole Messina hit an absolute moonshot to go along with four RBIs.

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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. 

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. 

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 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. 

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. 

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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.  

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. 

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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. 

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 and 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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