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Cocks Arrive In Omaha With "Avatar Spirit Stick"

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Cocks Arrive In Omaha With "Avatar Spirit Stick" Empty Cocks Arrive In Omaha With "Avatar Spirit Stick"

Post  Carolina Kat Sat Jun 19, 2010 3:56 am

USC riding hot streak after resorting to ritual

By Travis Haney

The Post and Courier

Thursday, June 17, 2010

COLUMBIA -- Known as something of a quirky bunch, South Carolina's baseball team reached a new level of eccentricity June 4 as its season appeared to be in danger.

Trailing Bucknell in the middle innings of the opening game of the school's NCAA regional, a storm cloud rolled over Carolina Stadium.

Minutes later, the game was halted because of lightning in the area. The players retreated to their locker room, but they didn't go alone.


Cocks Arrive In Omaha With "Avatar Spirit Stick" Christian_Walker_t180

Charles Slate/Sun News

South Carolina's Christian Walker (13) and the Gamecocks have been doing more celebrating since their bats came alive earlier this month.

No, there they were joined by the "Avatar Spirit Stick" -- a baseball taped to the sweet spot of a fungo bat.

Just before the delay, reserve outfielder Robert Beary had quickly fashioned the creation. He scampered around the dugout, getting all the players to touch it for good luck.

South Carolina's hitters had been in a funk for about a week, including a dreadful 0-2 showing in the SEC tournament, and Beary decided to do something about it.

During the break in play, the Gamecocks took it a step further. (OK, several steps further.) With the room lit only by candles, the team danced and chanted around the bat in a ritualistic manner.

Coaches weren't allowed in the room. In fact, one ducked in, saw what was happening and immediately turned around.

Kooky as it sounds, South Carolina emerged from the séance of sorts as a renewed team.

The Gamecocks went on to score eight unanswered runs to beat Bucknell 9-5. They scored nine runs the next night to beat The Citadel and 10 to defeat Virginia Tech and win the regional in three days.

In their 5-0 run to Omaha, they've scored 8.4 runs a game -- a great distance removed from their one run in 21 innings at the SEC tourney.

"Whatever it was and whatever they did, it worked," assistant coach Chad Holbrook said. "It's brought us a little bit of good fortune. And the bat lives on."

Does it ever. The "Avatar Spirit Stick" was being waved Sunday in the midst of the celebration after Christian Walker connected for the three-run home run that downed Coastal Carolina in the super regional.

You can be sure it is making the journey to Omaha, Neb., when the team leaves this morning. It'll be in the Rosenblatt Stadium dugout, now in the care of seldom-used reliever Pat Sullivan, when the Gamecocks begin their College World Series on Sunday against Oklahoma.

"Baseball players are awfully superstitious," Holbrook said. "Anything that can stem the tide when things aren't going well. I think this is a loose bunch. Whatever makes them feel good, I'm for it."

This isn't South Carolina's first Omaha run driven by an "enchanted" item. The 2002 trip, the Gamecocks' first under Ray Tanner, was fueled by a doll the team adopted at Georgia. It was called the "life force" of that team.

Still, that group included three All-Americans, the SEC player of the year and four All-SEC selections.

This isn't that team.

There is talent, without question, but there's more to it than just that. There's a certain chemistry -- comedic and peculiar.

"They've enjoyed each other's company," Tanner said. "They work hard. They play hard. They all get mad at the same time. They let me pass at the same time. They've really been good to deal with."

They've remained that way even as Tanner has yanked guys in and out of the lineup, trying to get the best fits and matchups on an incredibly deep team.

The heart of South Carolina's order was in flux throughout much of the season, only beginning to settle in the final month.

Heck, Nick Ebert, the 2009 leader in home runs (23) and 72 (RBIs), is a bench player right now. He hasn't started a game at first base since April 30.

Yet, Ebert is still fitting right in with the team's strange energy. He's still very much a part of it. Wondering last week what to do with his hair, he was split between shaving it off completely or getting a mohawk.

Mohawk, it is. And Ebert responded with a pinch-hit RBI single in Sunday's win at Coastal. He could get additional at-bats in the College World Series.

"I think they've accepted that," Tanner said. "It's one thing for a coach to talk about being a team and putting the team first and giving those speeches, but it's another thing for a player to accept it. They've done that. For me, that's why they've been successful."

Even earlier this week, starters and backups were joking with one another during a particularly hot day on the practice field.

The players are constantly ripping on one another, keeping the stress low - even as the school's first College World Series in six years approaches.

"That's just the way we are," junior leader Whit Merrifield said. "Off the field, we're a bunch of goofballs. On the field, we're trying to take care of business, but do it in a way that we know how.

"I think it reflects our attitude. It's a big deal for us to be able to stay loose and take days as they come."

Carolina Kat
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