South Carolina Baseball: Masterful Mahoney Mows Down River Hawks to Complete Sweep of UMass-Lowell

South Carolina baseball couldn’t have gotten off to a better start offensively through two games. The lineup was slightly different in game 3, as left fielder Caleb Denny shifted to right field, allowing designated hitter Carson Hornung to play left and freshman Ethan Petry to get at-bats at DH. The new-look lineup could not be expected to keep up the pace of scoring 37 runs in 18 innings as that was certainly unsustainable, but Sunday’s series finale against UMass-Lowell saw the run-scoring come to a screeching halt. At the halfway point of the game, the Gamecocks were held to just one hit through four and two-thirds innings and failed to cross the plate even once.

Jack Mahoney was electric in his first start since May 2021 and kept Carolina in the game as he struck out eight batters through five innings of work. UMass-Lowell had three singles off the junior, but none of the base runners made it past first.

A double to the wall led to the Gamecocks eventually loading the bases in the fourth, but Matt Draper continued his pitching brilliance for the River Hawks by getting out of the jam. As it turned out, though, the threat was a sign of life for the YardCocks as four innings was as long as Draper could hold the Gamecocks back.

A two-out rally in the fifth saw the home team touch home plate six times, with the majority of the damage coming from two mammoth shots off the bats of Cole Messina (3-run) and Gavin Casas (2-run). A game that was a pitcher’s duel through almost five frames was teetering on the edge of becoming yet another blowout.

Mahoney was on an unspecified pitch count from Head Coach Mark Kingston and Pitching Coach Justin Parker but remained on the bump for the sixth. He retired two River Hawks via strikeout and a weak grounder before he gave up back-to-back singles, ending his day. Last season’s Freshman All-American Cade Austin relieved Mahoney and blew away Robert Galagher to stop the UMass-Lowell rally before it could really get going. Mahoney finished with a career-high 9 Ks.

Three more runners made their way around the bases in the Gamecocks’ half of the sixth inning, bringing the score to 9-0. Austin pitched a perfect top of the seventh, and Gavin Casas hit his second dinger of the day (and team lead-tying third of the year) before freshman Ethan Petry knocked the cover off the ball for his first career home run two batters later.

Transfer portal addition Nick Proctor pitched a scoreless eighth, and fifth-year senior Kevin Madden came off the bench to add his first home run of the season and extend the lead to 12-0. Dylan Eskew made his season debut with one-run ball in the ninth inning to complete the sweep as the South Carolina baseball team starts 3-0 for the first time since starting 11-0 in 2021. The 49 series runs for the home Gamecocks broke a Founder’s Park scoring record.

Final Score: South Carolina-12, UMass-Lowell-1.

Box Score

The Gamecocks will play two mid-week games next week at Founder’s Park against Winthrop University and Queens University before a home weekend series against Penn.