Jack Mahoney was first introduced to South Carolina fans as a hard-throwing right-hander out of the bullpen, tasked with pitching out of high leverage situations early in the season.
He didn’t do a bad job at all, posting a 1.50 ERA in nine relief appearances while allowing just one of his five inherited runners to score, but it’s a new role in which Mahoney’s impacting things now.
The Gamecock freshman is the team’s midweek arm, settling into his new role nicely.
“I’m feeling really comfortable now starting out there. Obviously I was thrown out there in some mid-game situations out of the bullpen early but now I’m really liking the midweek feel,” Mahoney said. “There’s nothing like pitching at Founders Park.”
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Mahoney took charge of the role for the Gardner-Webb game, after early midweek starter Will Sanders was moved into the weekend rotation, and hasn’t looked back.
In three starts he’s posted a 1.38 ERA, has a 1.00 WHIP and has thrown nearly 70 percent strikes in 13 innings. The Gamecocks are 2-1 in those games, the lone loss coming in extra innings to North Carolina.
His last outing April 13 against Charleston Southern, he threw a career-high five innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out seven to just one walk.
“He has everything you need to work with as a coach: he’s talented, he’s competitive, he’s got a quick live arm that gets the ball up to 95 or 96. It’s not a straight fastball; it has some run and some sink. He’s developing a good slider and he throws strikes,” Mark Kingston said.
“He’s everything you’re looking for. He has poise and not afraid of those big moments. He has all the makings of a very, very, very successful pitcher now and as we continue to move forward.”
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A former three-sport athlete in high school, Mahoney came to South Carolina where he was able to focus on baseball full-time and has pitched 25 innings as a freshman so far with a 1.44 ERA and a .213 batting average against.
He’s part of a pair of freshman starters the Gamecocks have with Will Sanders, who is 5-2 this season with a 2.93 ERA.
“That’s something we’re really excited about,” Kingston said. “Half the games we play we’re starting a freshman pitcher. Those guys are guys we’re really excited about. Every time we go out it seems like they get a little better. That’s the kind of momentum you want to build on.”
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The Gamecocks (25-12, 11-7 SEC) approached midweeks early in the season as more of a whole staff role the first five games with no starter throwing more than 45 pitches and deeper than the third inning.
After a loss to Davidson, Will Sanders threw 67 pitches and Mahoney’s thrown at least 53 in all of his starts and has gone at least four innings.
The Gamecocks are 3-1 in midweeks since the starter was extended some, and they’ll get another chance tonight while hosting The Citadel at 7 p.m. with Mahoney on the mound.
“Truthfully I didn’t like we were giving up as many runs as we were on Tuesdays. There had been a trend where we were scoring a lot but giving up more than we wanted to,” Kingston said. “I wanted all of us to make a statement that Tuesdays aren’t just to go out there and not be sharp. I want us to be just as good on Tuesdays as we are on weekends."
