Baseball Faces Northern Kentucky to Open 2026 Season

FOR STARTERS

• Carolina opens its 134th season of Gamecock baseball with a three-game series against Northern Kentucky at Founders Park.
• The Gamecocks and Norse will meet on Opening Day (Friday, Feb. 13) and play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
• Saturday’s game will start at 2 p.m. and will conclude the series.
• All three games will be streamed on SEC Network with Dave Weinstein, Grayson Greiner (Friday) and Wil Crowe (Saturday) on the call.
• All three games will be broadcast on the Gamecock Sports Network presented by Learfield with Derek Scott (Friday G1), Brett Williams (Friday G2), Chris Miller (Saturday) and Stuart Lake on the call.

PARKING INFORMATION

BUSINESS LOTS DURING AFTERNOON GAMES Business lot parking passes will be honored in Lot 1 ONLY for the Feb. 13, 18 and 20 afternoon baseball games based on availability. The businesses at 405 (Lot 9) and 401 (Lot 10) Huger Street request that you begin parking at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. Other business lots open at 5 p.m. on weekdays. Parking is allowed in Lot 8 (the Cregger lot) on the Williams St. side for the afternoon early games.

GAME DAY PARKING INFORMATION (including public game day lots (PGDL: $10 per game). All gameday lots are cashless. Please have a debit card or credit card ready for payment upon entry into parking lots.

Weekday 4 p.m. Games (Feb. 13, 18, 20)
Game time: 4 p.m.
Stadium opens: 3:00 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 5/5:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PDGL Open: 2 p.m. 

Weekdays
Game Time: 6:30 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 5:30 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 5/5:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 4:30 p.m.

Saturday
Game Time: 2 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 12:30 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 12/12:30 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 12 p.m.

Sunday
Game Time: 1:30 p.m.
Stadium Opens: 12 p.m.
Business Lots Open: 11:30 a.m./12 p.m.
Lot 1, STDM, HDG PGDL Open: 11:30 a.m.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Friday G1
South Carolina Riley Goodman (R-Fr. RHP) Did not pitch in 2025
NKU Evan Fry (R-Jr. RHP) 4-2, 6.82 ERA, 30.1 IP, 24 BB, 36 SO in 2025

Friday G2
South Carolina Amp Phillips (Jr. RHP) Transfer from USC Upstate
NKU EJ Miramontes (Gr. LHP) Transfer from UT-Rio Grande Valley

Saturday
South Carolina Brandon Stone (Jr. RHP) 2-7, 6.50 ERA, 62.1 IP, 15 BB, 46 SO in 2025
NKU Elijah Green (Sr. RHP) Transfer from Eastern Illinois

PROMOTIONS
Friday – Custom Opening Weekend rally towel giveaway to welcome fans back for an exciting year at Founders Park.
Saturday –  Fans receiving a themed Valentine card giveaway featuring some of their favorite Gamecocks.

SCOUTING NORTHERN KENTUCKY

• The Norse are coming off a 31-25 campaign in 2025 that included an 18-12 Horizon League mark. NKU finished second in the Horizon and went 1-2 in the conference tournament.
• Josh Williams returns after hitting .280 with 14 home runs 61 RBI, which was second on the team, last season.
• Jake Paulick added eight home runs and drove in 41 at the catcher position.
• On the mound, Shawn Parnell was 3-2 with a 3.37 ERA in 21 appearances and 34.2 innings pitched for the Norse in 2025.
• Dizzy Peyton will start his fifth season as the head coach at Northern Kentucky. He guided the Norse to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2024.

SERIES VS. NORTHERN KENTUCKY

• Carolina and Northern Kentucky will meet on the diamond for the first time in school history this weekend.
• Carolina is 7-1 against teams currently in the Horizon League, including a three-game sweep of Milwaukee last February.
• NKU has been an NCAA Division I athletic department since 2012 and became a full-time member in the fall of 2016. The Norse joined the Horizon League in 2015.

SEASON OPENERS

• South Carolina is 92-41 all-time in season openers dating back to 1892.
• Carolina has won the last six season openers.
• The Gamecocks are 24-3 in its last 26 lidlifters and has won 27 straight series to open the season.
• Last year, Carolina defeated Sacred Heart, 5-3, behind nine strikeouts from Dylan Eskew and 2.2 shutout innings from Parker Marlatt.
• Carolina will play a doubleheader on Opening Day for the first time since 2014, when the Gamecocks defeated Bucknell by scores of 17-4 and 12-2 on Feb. 15.

WEEKEND ROTATION

• Head Coach Paul Mainieri will start redshirt freshman Riley Goodman, junior Amp Phillips and junior Brandon Stone on the mound this weekend in the Northern Kentucky series.
• Goodman redshirted his first season at Carolina as he recovered from Tommy John surgery when he was in high school.
• Goodman was 7-1 with 81 strikeouts in 47 innings pitched between 2022 and 2023 at Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Tenn.
• Phillips comes to Carolina from USC Upstate, where he was the Big South Newcomer of the Year, a four-time Big South Pitcher of the Week and a member of Big South All-Tournament team.
• Phillips struck out nine batters in six innings of work against Clemson in the opening game of the 2025 Clemson Regional.
• Phillips had seven wins and a 3.64 ERA for the Spartans in 2025 after he spent a year at Spartanburg Methodist in 2024.
• Stone returns for his second season in a Gamecock uniform. The junior from Shawnee Mission, Kan., made 15 appearances with eight starts in 2025.
• Stone had a complete game win against Ole Miss on April 17, 2025, striking out four and not walking a batter in an 86-pitch performance.
• Stone struck out a season-high nine batters against Morehead State on March 7 and had six strikeouts in 4.2 innings against Clemson on Feb. 28.

LECROY RETURNS FOR FIFTH SEASON

• Catcher Talmadge LeCroy returns for his fifth year at Carolina in 2026 after missing the second half of last season due to injury.
• LeCroy has played in 173 games in his Carolina career with 156 starts. If he plays in 27 games this season, LeCroy will become one of 17 Gamecocks to play in 200 games or more and the first to do it since Adam Matthews (2009-12).
• LeCroy also is 19 walks away from cracking Carolina’s top-10 list in base on balls.
• The Belton, S.C., native has 136 hits, 26 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 87 RBI in the Garnet and Black, helping Carolina to a Super Regional berth in 2023.

KJ MOVING TO SHORT FOR 2026

• Sophomore KJ Scobey manned the hot corner last year, starting at third in 56 of Carolina’s 57 games in 2025.
• Scobey will now move to shortstop this season, a position he played at Team USA training camp this summer and all through fall ball.
• Scobey had 34 runs scored, seven doubles, eight home runs and 27 RBI in his freshman season.
• Scobey had a walk-off double in Carolina’s 3-2 win over North Florida on April 22 and had a home run to lead off the ninth in the Gamecocks’ 6-5 win over No. 1 LSU on May 15.
• Scobey spent the summer of 2025 in the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp in Cary, N.C. He had two hits in the Stars and Stripes exhibition on June 30.

IT’S BEAU TIME

• Beau Hollins returns for his second season in Columbia after playing in 46 games with 42 starts for the Gamecocks as a freshman in 2025.
• Hollins hit .308 with 28 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple, six home runs and 24 RBI.
• All six of Hollins’ home runs came in SEC games and the Lexington, S.C., native had four hits in a game three times, all conference tilts (Tennessee, March 29; Mississippi State, April 4; Auburn, May 9).
• Hollins was a stalwart defensively, committing just four errors at first base for a .989 fielding percentage.

SUTTER NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN

• Fifth-year senior Logan Sutter was named a Preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), it was announced Feb. 6.
• Sutter was named a fourth team second baseman by the writers.
• Sutter joins the Gamecocks after spending two seasons at Purdue, where he had 38 doubles, 23 home runs and 99 RBI for the Boilermakers.
• Sutter was named to the All-Big Ten second team last season, hitting .367 with 22 doubles, 15 home runs and 62 RBI.
• Sutter started his collegiate career at Folsom Lake College, where he hit .390 in 2023.

 UP NEXT

• Carolina will hit the road for the first time this season, facing Wofford on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
• The game will be played at Fifth Third Park in Spartanburg, home of the Hub City Spartanburgers. This will be Carolina’s first-ever game at the minor league park, which opened in 2025.
• The Gamecocks then host Gardner-Webb on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m. at Founders Park.