After a down year in 2025, South Carolina’s offense is expected to take a significant step forward this season. Paul Mainieri set out to add more contact, more speed, and most importantly, more power, and on paper, he accomplished exactly that.

The Gamecocks hit just 58 home runs last year, the third-fewest total in the SEC. Addressing that lack of power was a clear offseason priority, and Mainieri attacked it head-on. But it’s only February, which means the ball won’t fly off the bat as often as it will in May and June.

With the wind blowing in Friday afternoon, it looked like it might be a long day for hitters. That changed in the fifth inning.

South Carolina launched two home runs in the frame to break the ice in a 5-2 win over Northern Kentucky in the first game of an Opening Day doubleheader.

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It began immediately when Patrick Evans got a 3-2 pitch up in the zone and drove it for a solo shot to lead off the inning. Then, after Logan Sutter drew a walk to turn the lineup over, Dawson Harman smoked a two-run homer into left to help the Gamecocks (1-0) put up a three-spot.

South Carolina added on in the sixth with back-to-back doubles. Ethan Lizama started the rally, and Talmadge LeCroy followed by driving one into the left-center gap to bring him home.

The two teamed up to add another run in the eighth after Lizama hit a triple into the gap and LeCroy got him in with an RBI single into left. Lizama went 2-for-4 at the plate, while LeCroy had a three-hit day and drove in two runs.

On the mound, Riley Goodman made his first start and looked as advertised, though he only lasted into the fourth. The right-hander, who missed all of last year with Tommy John surgery, struck out five batters and walked two over 3.2 scoreless innings before getting into a bases-loaded jam.

With 70 pitches, Mainieri decided to pull the plug on Goodman’s first outing and turned the ball over to Josh Gunther, who immediately extinguished the threat with a called strikeout and walked off the mound all fired up.

From there, Gunther pitched 4.2 innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts and one walk. It looked like Mainieri’s plan of Gunther going the rest of the way would work, but that changed in the ninth when he got himself into trouble after loading the bases and allowing a run to score via sacrifice fly. However, Alex Valentin came in out of relief and got two quick flyouts to end it.

Up next: South Carolina will play the second game of Friday’s doubleheader with first pitch at 4:45 p.m. on SEC Network+. Amp Phillips will make his Gamecock debut and get the start on the mound.

Two men are dead and another was wounded after a shooting in a room at a South Carolina State University residential complex, the university said, prompting a nearly eight-hour lockdown that was lifted early Friday.

The Thursday night shooting happened a little over four months after two shootings during homecoming celebrations on Oct. 4. One, which happened near the same residential complex, killed a 19-year-old woman. A man was injured in the other shooting. School officials announced new safety measures afterward.

University officials have not confirmed the identities of the men. The condition of the man in the hospital was not known.

One man died at the scene and the other died at the hospital, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said in a statement. It is investigating the shooting.

The school put the campus on lockdown at about 9:15 p.m. The shooting happened inside a room in the Hugine Suites housing complex, the division said.

The lockdown was lifted about 5 a.m. Friday, the university said. The university canceled Friday classes and was making counselors available to students.

Several people have been arrested on gun-related charges in connection with the October shootings.

After the October shootings, university President Alexander Conyers announced the addition of new fencing along the campus perimeter and additional security patrols to better control pedestrian access, according to a news release at the time. Crews were also set to repair damaged perimeter barriers.

Ahead of the university’s annual Youth & ROTC Day set on Nov. 1, the university announced safety and security measures, including a second layer of fencing along the perimeter between Hugine Suites and Goff Street and repairs underway along the shared boundary between South Carolina State and Claflin University.