David Thoms' routine started with a routine double at Oconee County High School.

"Ever since then every time I put the donut on the bat I swing it four times," said the Georgia second baseman. "I don't know what it is, if you do it one less or one too many it gets in your head."

Ah, the head. In baseball the mind can be a dangerous thing. This is a game of failure. Too much thought can lead to one too many mistakes. So tricks are played inside the head. Superstitions are created. Just little nuggets a player can grab onto to remind himself of past success.

"The mental anguish of the game, it can be a cruel game at times," said Georgia coach David Perno. "A superstition that creates a little relief to know that, 'Hey, I did it just like a did it yesterday so this will work out.'"

There will be a confluence of superstitions this Friday when Georgia Tech travels to Athens to play Louisville at 7 p.m. and Georgia plays Lipscomb at 3 p.m. in the NCAA regionals.

For example, take a look at Georgia catcher Joey Lewis' batting helmet. It looks as if it were soaked in a spittoon for 24 hours. Lewis does that because Nationals catcher Johnny Estrada puts pine tar all over everything and so Lewis emulates him .

"We just got those brand new white helmets and the next day it looked like it was 20 years old," Thoms said.

Third baseman Ryan Peisel went 0-for-2 in his first two at bats against Ole Miss, took off his batting glove and had three straight hits.

"So the next day he was out there with one batting glove," said catcher Bryce Massanari.

Every game day for the past two years Tech pitcher Eddie Burns eats the same meal.

"I would eat an Einstein's bagel," he said. "I would get bacon, egg and cheese on an everything bagel and I don't even like everything bagels.

"They messed it up one day early last year and I had a good outing so I stuck with it."

For his part Massanari swings one donut then two in the batting circle every time before he steps into the box.

"Everybody has their own little rituals or superstitions," Massanari said. "I don't know if they work or not but it is whatever helps you get prepared for the game."

It may also help during the game. At Tech the entire team goes through a superstition when Tech is ahead, the count is 2-2 and there are two outs.

First they point one arm out, palm down. Then they bring that hand back and tap their fists against their heads.

"We warm it up and then we've got to pound it on the top of our head and then we've got to get it going," Burns said. "When the pitch is let go we take our hats and shake it through the end of the play. If he throws a ball, we turn (the cap) around backwards and ride it out.

"It's a complicated process but it's a lot of fun," Burns said.

The 2-2 act has been going on at Tech for as long as any of the current players remember.

Not everybody dabbles in the superstition game. Perno, who is well versed in superstitions — from the Mets' black cat of 1969 to the not-so-well known touching of second base by Thoms before every inning — doesn't believe in them.

"I am one to go the other way," Perno said. "I do things opposite. If we are having a streak I will do little subtle things opposite just to verify that it is not because of these superstitions."

For instance, when a team is streaking, like Georgia has a tendency to do, many coaches stick with the exact same routines. Practice times are the same. The lineup care is filled out in the exact same order at the exact same time every day. And so on.

Perno refuses to be sucked in. One day the lineup card my be filled from top too bottom. The next it is filled from bottom to top. As for when it is filled, who knows?

"Really, you could also see that as a superstition," Thoms joked. "Never doing the same thing twice. It is crazy how things work."

Georgia did do the same thing more than twice one weekend this year. When in Gainesville the Bulldogs ate at Napolatanos three consecutive days.

"Same meal too," Thoms said.

It was the first of only two series Georgia lost in the SEC.