South Carolina was dealt a big blow a few weeks ago with one of its better young pitchers, Jack Mahoney, as Tommy John took him out for the remainder of the year.

In his absence, the Gamecocks needed someone to step up, and so far CJ Weins has been that guy.

The junior right-hander slid right into the midweek role the last two weeks and performed well, but now comes his first SEC start Tuesday as the Gamecocks begin SEC Tournament play.

“It’s always been a power arm, but he’s started throwing more strikes. That’s the key for him: throwing strikes. His stuff is hard to hit. It’s hard to square up. Just look at his opponents’ batting averages and you’ll see that,” Mark Kingston said.

“The key with him is continuing to maintain composure, continue to get more comfortable like he has and trust your stuff. His stuff is very good. It gives us a chance to win when he pitches.”

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Weins has started the last two midweeks for South Carolina, starting with 2.2 scoreless at Clemson and culminating last week in a career-best four shutout innings at home against App State.

This season Weins has a 1.93 ERA in 9.1 total innings (five appearances). He’s allowed one hit and three runs (two earned) with nine walks to 11 strikeouts but his numbers as a starter have been even better.

In two starts, Weins hasn’t allowed a hit in 6.2 shutout innings, walking five and striking out eight with a 0.75 WHIP.

But Weins’s emergence wasn’t always predicted. The righty struggled to get any consistent innings, going over a month between appearances from a March 30 outing against Gardner-Webb to one May 7 against Mississippi State.

He got a starting opportunity at Clemson and has looked good with a fastball up to 94 miles per hour.

“Obviously it’s been up and down the whole spring,” Weins said. “Basically it’s coach Meade trusting me to stay the course and keep working my way. Like coach Kingston says, stock up and stock down. I just have to keep building stock.”

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Now Weins (1-0, 1.93 ERA) will face his toughest test yet against an Alabama team slashing .258/.321/.420 in SEC play and averaging five runs per game.

The SEC Tournament starts a stretch where the Gamecocks (33-20, 16-14 SEC) could play up to six games over six days, which could be insanely taxing on a pitching staff

Kingston knows that, but the Gamecocks will keep the same plan for their pitchers to limit pitch counts and not run arms into the ground by pitching guys consecutive days, which was something they tried to avoid in the regular season.

“These are important games but these careers are important and pitchers are important. We’ll continue to protect them both for their careers but we won’t overpitch guys so they’re tired for next week too,” Kingston said.

“At the end of the day the 2010 and 2011 teams had much greater success in the NCAA tournament than they did in the SEC Tournament. In the grand scheme of things that’s what people will remember years from now.”

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