South Carolina baseball opens 2026 season with win over Northern Kentucky
Everyone needs a clean slate, and South Carolina baseball got its chance Friday afternoon.
After a 28-29 season in their first year under Paul Mainieri, the Gamecocks started anew with a 5-2 win against Northern Kentucky. USC starts the year 1-0 and can sweep Friday’s doubleheader and secure a series win in game two, set to begin roughly 45 minutes after game one.
In the spirit of newness, Mainieri gave the nod to redshirt freshman Riley Goodman as USC’s opening-day starter. Goodman missed the 2025 season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and made his college debut against NKU. He tossed 3.2 scoreless innings and tallied five strikeouts in his first-ever appearance in a Gamecock uniform.
Goodman and Wake Forest transfer Josh Gunther combined for 12 strikeouts in eight shutout innings.
USC also remained scoreless through the first four innings.
Goodman loaded the bases for the second time in the game with two outs in the third. It also marked his 70th pitch of the day, which Mainieri said Thursday would be his limit. He was pulled and Gunther took over on the mound.
Gunther struck out the batter to escape the jam and came off the mound fired up.
Two innings later, USC’s offense would get rolling. Florence-Darlington Tech transfer Patrick Evans, one of 27 newcomers on USC’s roster this season, hit the first home run of the year for the Gamecocks and gave them a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth.
NKU pulled starting pitcher Evan Fry later in the fifth in favor of left-handed reliever Gerald Hanson, but it didn’t slow down the Gamecocks. Dawson Harman hit a home run of his own, this one good for two runs.
One of USC’s 10 returners, fifth-year senior catcher Talmadge LeCroy, got in on the fun in the sixth inning with an RBI double to give the Gamecocks a 4-0 lead. He tacked on a fifth run on an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.
Gunther came in for the ninth and loaded the bases with no outs, but USC chose to keep him in after a mound visit. He gave up NKU’s first run of the day on a sacrifice fly, and USC opted to pull him from the game for Texas State transfer Alex Valentin.
Valentin gave up another run on another sacrifice fly but ultimately closed out the win.
South Carolina baseball weekend series schedule
- Friday, Feb. 13 (Game 1): USC 5, NKU 1
- Friday, Feb, 13 (Game 2): vs. NKU, 4:45 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Saturday, Feb, 14: vs. NKU, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
This story was originally published February 13, 2026 at 4:16 PM.