Braylen Wimmer recalls his message for South Carolina baseball during May slump

The South Carolina baseball team cruised through the first three months of the 2023 season and were riding particularly high coming off a three-game sweep of powerhouse Florida. Then it all came crashing down.

The Gamecocks went from ranked No. 3 in the country to losing 13 of their next 18 games to close out the regular season and the SEC Tournament.

In the process, the team lost its grip on a potential top-eight national seed. But veterans like Braylen Wimmer were able to keep the team focused through the slump and come out firing on the other side, in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s baseball. There’s a lot of things you can say, and I’m not the most vocal guy,” Wimmer said. “I lead by my actions and by how I carry myself, and that’s, I think, important too. Carry myself in a positive way and joke around after the losses and kind of hold everybody with their heads high knowing it’s baseball, we can turn it around like we just did.”

Turn it around the Gamecocks did indeed.

South Carolina started its regional with a 19-1 stomping of Central Connecticut State, knocked off NC State 6-3 to cruise into the driver’s seat in the winner’s bracket, then dusted Campbell 16-7 in the regional final.

The Gamecocks beat each team in the regional in the process and recovered a little bit of their mojo.

Now a familiar set of faces looms in the Super Regional. That same Florida team that South Carolina swept just before going into its late-season slide.

Florida still isn’t quite firing on all cylinders, but the Gators managed to battle back from a second-game loss last weekend in the Gainesville Regional, winning three straight games to advance. They’ll be at home with the help of a hearty home crowd in an almost brand-new ballpark.

It won’t be the easiest opponent for South Carolina baseball as it looks to advance to Omaha and the College World Series for the first time since 2012.

But, again, the mojo appears to be back for the South Carolina baseball team.

“I would like to think so,” coach Mark Kingston said. “And maybe we always had it, but you have to be a little more reserved when things aren’t going your way. You have to kind of tone it down because nobody wants to look like they’re having too much fun when you’re not winning. That’s just how you handle yourself in baseball.

“But yeah, I think the guys have had fun. And I’ve challenged them to have more fun than any team that’s still playing for the rest of the season. Because the teams are having fun and are loose, tend to play better and come through in the end.”

South Carolina baseball’s fun against Florida will begin with a game Friday at 6 p.m. ET. The second game of the series is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, with a potential third and deciding game on Sunday at a time to be determined if necessary.