How a scythe is helping the Gamecocks stay positive under pressure
Moments after drilling his second straight walk-off hit against Clemson on Sunday, Andrew Eyster stood in the middle of Founders Park holding a life-size toy scythe.
The South Carolina junior outfielder was indeed a Grim Reaper figure for the Tigers this weekend, dealing the final blow on both nights of the weather-truncated series. But the prop wasn’t meant as a dig at Clemson.
Rather, the toy represents one of the many ways the No. 14 Gamecocks (6-0) are staying loose during the early portion of the season. Every time a Gamecock hits a home run or makes a game-changing play, he earns the scythe.
“I think it’s a cool idea,” Eyster said, laughing. “It’s kind of like the Miami (football) turnover chain.
“It just adds some fun to the game. The game, it can be a lot of pressure. I know that personally. It can bring a lot of pressure and anxiety, and whatever you can do to make it more fun and calm the nerves, it helps out tremendously.”
The Gamecocks, clearly, are having plenty of fun. Winning — especially against a fierce rival — helps with that. Though the season is only 2 weeks old, South Carolina’s power arms have so far lived up to their billing on the mound, while Eyster and the scorching-hot Wes Clarke have provided heroics at the plate.
But as much as winning can breed looseness, sometimes it can work the other way around, too.
Head coach Mark Kingston preaches the importance of maintaining an even keel, telling his players to “play with emotion, not emotional,” and he gushed about the way his players handled high-pressure moments all weekend. On Sunday, he pointed to freshman right-hander Will Sanders, who was the last man on the mound for the Gamecocks in both walk-off wins.
“What’s most important is the sense you get of a guy when he gets on the mound with a crazy crowd around him and guys on base. Does he look comfortable? Or does he not look comfortable?” Kingston said. “You can just kind of sense it ... and he looks very comfortable out there. And that’s key.”
And how did Sanders find comfort in those moments?
“Today, hearing Miley Cyrus, a little ‘Hoedown Throwdown,’ was great getting my nerves just completely out and ready to have fun,” Sanders said with a dry, deadpan delivery. “And then also, Miley Cyrus helps with the translucency of the ball.”
Later, in a downright goofy press conference, Sanders added that “translucency” is one of his favorite words and that Cyrus’ “Hannah Montana” is one of his favorite movies. Sanders wasn’t alone in his goofiness. Eyster described the pitch he hit for the game-winning single as “voluptuous.” The Gamecocks have seemingly made a game of sneaking lengthy vocabulary words into post-game interviews.
Then, of course, there’s the story behind the scythe.
With a stunning eight home runs in just six games, Clarke has held the scythe more than anyone. He’s also one of the masterminds behind it, along with fellow junior and close friend Brady Allen. It stems from nicknames they have for each other.
“My friends call me ‘Soul Reaper’,” Allen said. “Wes is ‘Two Souls’ or ‘Two Glocks.’ One or the other. That was actually our Halloween costume. That was part of it. And we just thought it’d be fun.”
No, the Gamecocks haven’t started the season with six straight wins because of toy scythes or Hannah Montana walk-up songs. But those quirks speak to the team’s coolness under duress and their sheer confidence as a group. The Gamecocks could have folded after allowing Clemson to take a 7-5 lead late in Sunday’s game, but the positivity and levity in the home dugout never wavered.
“There wasn’t any negative energy,” Eyster said. “I wasn’t getting the vibe that people were down and we thought we’re gonna lose. We knew we were in the whole game, and we knew we were going to come back.
“And that’s the kind of confidence that we need to have.”
New D1Baseball Top 25
Previous rank in parenthesis
1. Arkansas 7-0 ... (2)
2. Vanderbilt 6-1 ... (3)
3. Mississippi State 5-2 ... (5)
4. Ole Miss 5-2 ... (1)
5. Louisville 6-1 ... (4)
6. Florida 6-2 ... (7)
7. UC Santa Barbara 6-1 ... (9)
8. UCLA 4-3 ... (8)
9. Miami 3-3 ... (6)
10. Texas Tech 3-3 ... (10)
11. LSU 6-1 ... (11)
12. Georgia Tech 6-1 ... (15)
13. TCU 5-2 ... (14)
14. South Carolina 6-0 ... (17)
15. Oklahoma State 6-0 ... (20)
16. Virginia 4-3 ... (12)
17. East Carolina 6-1 ... (22)
18. Tennessee 7-2 ... (18)
19. Texas 3-4 ... (19)
20. Oregon State 7-1 ... (NR)
21. Florida Atlantic 6-1 ... (NR)
22. Boston College 5-1 ... (NR)
23. West Virginia 4-3 ... (23)
24. Virginia Tech 5-1 ... (NR)
25. North Carolina 6-1 ... (NR)
This story was originally published March 1, 2021 at 9:28 AM.
