College World Series players dish on their best superstitions

Binelas shares his baseball superstition (0:37)

Louisville freshman Alex Binelas started growing his beard earlier this year, and decided to keep it after it helped him break out of a slump. (0:37)

It's the College World Series, which means a bunch of baseball players have gathered in Omaha, Nebraska, over the past week -- and with that, they've brought all their superstitions with them.

So we asked several of them to share their biggest ones. From loads of bubble gum to inside-out socks, here's what they had to share ...


Alex Binelas, 3B: "I started my beard when we played Ole Miss during a midweek series, during our spring break. It was pretty early in the year. And I hit my first career home run that day, kind of broke out of a little slump I was in. And everyone on the team was talking about how I should grow a beard, because I'd always shave right away. And I finally came out of a slump, I'm a freshman, and I was like, 'All right, I'll just listen to what the upperclassmen are telling me.' So I started growing the beard, I started a little hitting streak and the rest is history. I shampoo and condition it. This is my first time every growing it out past two weeks. It's a little different, but I Iove it."

Pat Rumoro, C: "In the dugout, if we have a good inning, we make sure that we're in the same order every time, so whoever you're standing next to after a big hit, we do our little chant we do and we go right back to the same spots we were in. Same thing on defense too, big strikeout or something, we always make sure we get right back in the same spot. There's a couple guys, including myself, who kind of initiate it and make sure everybody's back in the right spots, but I think everyone's bought in and agrees that it works."

Bryan Hoeing, P: "We've got little ones, like standing up when we pray. We've done it ever since NC State. It was really wet that day, so we stood up when we prayed, and then we went 3-0 that weekend. So ever since then, we've been standing up. We don't want to kill the mojo. We just want to keep rolling with that."

Drew Campbell, OF: "I put my belt on the opposite way. I've been wearing this for a while now, since I was 12. I just feel more comfortable that way, knowing it's the opposite of everybody else."

Mississippi State

Tanner Allen, 1B: "My left sock is always inside out. Every game. I was hitting .230 going into the weekend at Tennessee. Sunday [April 7], I went 3-for-5, had a good day. I got on the bus and my left sock was inside out. I played the whole game with an inside-out sock. So from then on, I've been playing with an inside-out left sock."


Jordan Brewer, OF: "I'm always chewing bubble gum. Juicy Fruit, just old, original Juicy Fruit. It lasts like five seconds. I probably go through three packs a game. My dad brought me a lot ... he bought them on Amazon. I just restocked before I came."

Joe Donovan, C: "I wear a white headband. I have three. And I wear pink shoes to the game. That one started this postseason. And I put my pants on two legs at a time, instead of one. I gotta sit down for it."

Karl Kauffmann, P: "My dad, Ray, wears the same clothes. He's got these olive shorts and a Michigan polo and the same hat that stinks. It doesn't smell good. It's just a mess."


Drake Fellows, P: "Swinging a bat between innings. That's just something I've always done. In high school, I used to do it because I used to hit for myself, and now I've just kind of carried that on throughout my college career. Just in between innings, I always swing the bat three times. I just always do it, even though I don't hit anymore. I still do it to carry on the tradition."

Philip Clarke, C: "My mom and I have matching wristbands, and I wear one in my back pocket too. And I have to chew 5 brand cobalt gum. I only do one flavor. And I have to play with it. I go through three pieces a game, so a pack a week. The 5 gum, I chewed gum one time and it relaxed me, so I kept doing it. For three years."

Florida State

Mike Salvatore, SS: "Before I hit, if it's my first at-bat, I do my left batting glove stitch, I do it once. And if I get a hit that at-bat, the next one I'm looking for my second hit, so I do it twice. I strap it once, unstrap it and strap it again, and so on. So for the third at-bat, I'll do the same thing, three times."