Will Sanders didn’t even crack a smile.

As he was lobbed a question about remaining calm in not calm situations in a rivalry series, his face remained unchanged as he began his answer and snuck in the word he had hoped to say since he sat down for his Zoom press conference.

“Today, hearing Miley Cyrus with a little Hoedown Throwdown was great to get my nerves completely out and ready to have fun,” Sanders said, deadpan. “Miley Cyrus helps with the translucency of the ball.”

When a follow-up question was asked about if he added translucency in on purpose, it was the first time in his three-minute session he smiled, saying it might be intentional but translucency is one of his favorite words.

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Then, minutes later, Andrew Eyster aced his vocabulary test with the media as well in discussing his second walk-off hit in as many days.

“The ball looked pretty voluptuous and I put a good swing on it and made some hard contact,” he said, a smile creeping up on his face.

So either South Carolina’s players are working their way through a word of the day calendar or this is the most fun this team and program is having in years.

If the words non-surreptitiously forced into press conference answers weren’t enough of a clue, look no further than the grim reaper tools bobbing up and down in the Gamecocks’ dugout.

It’s the Gamecocks’ version of Miami football’s turnover chain from a few years ago, and the rules are pretty simple: hit a home run, and you get the privilege of getting to sport the scythe.

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“That’s too long of a story. That’s my nickname. My friends call me on the Soul Reaper. Wes’s is Two Souls or Two Glocks,” Brady Allen sad. “That was our Halloween costume. It’s part of it. We thought it’d be fun where whoever hit a home run gets to have the staff for that time.”

Both props—brought to the part by Mr. Soul Reaper and Two Souls themselves—have stuck and it’s become the talk around the team.

From a program that proudly brought fans the spirit stick, a pet fish and a pet bunny comes the latest iteration personifying the weirdness that is college baseball.

“They rolled up with those during Halloween and brought them out to the field. I think it’s a cool idea. It’s like the Miami turnover chain. It’s the Carolina baseball—I don’t even know what you’d call it, a staff? A scythe,” Eyster said.

“It adds some fun to the game. The game can be a lot of pressure. I know that personally. It can bring a lot of pressure and anxiety but whatever you can do to make it more fun and calm the nerves helps tremendously.”

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And it’s even more fun because the No. 13/14 Gamecocks are having fun but doing it while also winning games.

South Carolina’s a perfect 6-0 to start the year and are coming off a dramatic series win over rival Clemson this weekend and have won 11-straight games dating back to last season.

With the win streak has come the reaper tools and some oddly bizarre nicknames in the dugout.

“I don’t have a nickname that’s that cool. Most people call me Ice or something like that. It’s nothing as cool as soul reaper,” Esyter said. “Maybe you guys can come up with something.”

This team has been in close games throughout the year, using a late-inning surge against Datyon in game three, late home runs to crush Winthrop and two walk-off hits to beat Clemson, not flinching or wilting in early-season tests.

The first six games won’t define the season—and the Gamecocks still have eight more series against top 25 teams, including five in the top 10—but they’re winning late and having fun doing it.

“The team has character. I’ve seen it. They’ve shown me a couple times throughout the year, inside stuff where they’ve shown me a lot of character and maturity. I thought that’s what we had tonight,” Mark Kingston said. “A lot of teams can crumble if you give up a heart breaker like but they just kept coming. They kept coming and found a way. That’s what you want to see.”

Their next test comes Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Winthrop. There will be no TV stream but the game will be broadcast on the radio at 1320 AM. Left-hander Josiah Sightler (0-0, 4.50 ERA) will start.