At the time, Jack Mahoney was frustrated.
He was back in the dugout, minutes removed from giving up the Gamecocks' first hit of the day to break up a combined no-hitter in the eighth, and upset with himself.
But, as he sat at the media table fresh off the team's 10th-straight win to start the season, he was able to at least crack a smile and joke about it as the Gamecocks struck out 16 more batters to sweep Mercer.
"That was one of the best sliders I threw today. We were laughing at it. I got up 0-2 on him and unfortunately tried to do too much on the next two pitches. I put a slider in the zone, which was a really good pitch. That’s baseball," he said. "Once I got back in the dugout I was frustrated with myself. (Julian Bosnic) worked his butt off today.”
South Carolina (10-0) is off to its best start since 2016 with Sunday's 1-0 victory, sweeping the series once again off dominant pitching.
Gamecock arms combined to give up just two hits, one in the eighth and another in the ninth, while striking out 16 more hitters and pitching their second consecutive shutout for the first time since the 2015 season.
Bosnic (1-0, 0.90 ERA) had one of his best days as a Gamecock yet, pitching a career-high 5.2 innings and tying a career-high with nine strikeouts.
It was similar to what he showed in his first start of the year when he struck out nine in just over three innings but left because of a blister.
"If he could get us to the sixth we thought we could start passing the baton to all those bullpen guys," Mark Kingston said. "It’s another great outing out of him: almost six innings, no hits and nine strikeouts. It’s just another dominant performance from him.”
Bosnic did battle some command issues—he walked four and hit two more—but has yet to give up a hit in 10 innings this year with 21 punch-outs.
He'd get out of jams withe the help of his defense; Bosnic picked off one runner and Colin Burgess threw out two of the three runners who tried to steal Sunday.
“For me it’s trying to take a deep breath and resetting. I’m trying to find the arm angle and what was working before," Bosnic said. "Having Burg behind there I know if a runner goes he’s got my back. When he threw that guy out late in the game he told me to not worry about the runner and if he goes he has him. That was huge.”
Jack Mahoney picked up right where Bosnic left off, getting out of the sixth inning and striking out the side in the seventh, finishing by giving up one hit in 2.1 innings while striking out four of the seven batters he faced.
Brett Kerry came in and slammed the door in the ninth, pitching around a one-out single with three strikeouts in the inning. He picks up his first save of the season.
For Mahoney, he's now pitched 7.2 innings this season, the majority of those coming in tight games, and has allowed just one run on four hits with 11 strikeouts.
“He has talent but also is developing skill and make up. That’s the makings of special players. He has the talent; he runs the fastball up to 94, 95 and 96. He has the makeup cause he’s a competitor," Kingston said. "All those things really mean this is a guy you can give the ball to when it matters."
Much like the rest of the weekend the Gamecocks struggled to do much against Mercer's pitching, mustering one run on just four hits.
The lone run of the game came in the fourth inning when the Gamecocks put two runners in scoring position after two walks and a bunt. Joe Satterfield delivered the play, grounding out to second and plating the run.
They had no answers for starter Jackson Kelley, who pitched 7.1 innings and struck out five to three walks. He'd allow just nine base runners and the Gamecocks struggled to get much of anything going.
“It’s the nature of baseball," Kingston said. "It was a very cold, wind blowing in weekend at Founders Park. We all know that makes the park play extremely big. You had a lot of guys pitching on their side that were very funky. They had different arm angles and different speeds. It’s tough match ups for a lot of SEC teams. All that really matters is we found ways to win.”
The Gamecocks have now tied their longest season-opening win streak since starting 10-0 in 2016, the same year they won the SEC East.
They've now won 15 straight dating back to last season.
“I think it shows guys if they trust the plan and work hard this is what we expect. You recruit in a way and practice in a way and prepare in a way that gives guys chances to win games," Kingston said. "It gives a little more validity the next time you tell guys stuff.”
