UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK BARBIE LUDOVISE : DeChavez Takes Steps to Change His Luck on Field

He got rid of No. 13. He hasn’t shaved in weeks. And he insists that a particular teammate punch him in the chest before each at-bat.

But don’t call Osmar DeChavez, UC Irvine’s hot-hitting first baseman, superstitious.

“I’m not, really,” said DeChavez, who now wears No. 24. “Or at least I don’t think so.

“Since I’ve grown this beard, we haven’t lost, so it’s on until we do. Hopefully, I’ll be wearing a really big (beard) at the end of the season.

“Also, there’s the guy (freshman Craig Plumley) who hits me in the chest before I go up to bat. (Tuesday) he forgot, and I flied out.

“I don’t take these things seriously. I mean, I’m just kidding around. But it does work.”

Whatever the senior is doing, it’s working. After a miserable season last year, in which he had a .213 average, DeChavez is batting a team-high .460 this season.

Irvine (10-6), which upset top-ranked USC, 3-2, Wednesday, has an eight-game winning streak, its longest since 1974, when the Anteaters won 32 in a row and won the NCAA Division II title.

Offensively, the Anteaters have improved since last year, especially DeChavez.

“Last year was such a horrible year--I was one for 31 at the start of the season,” DeChavez said. “This year, I started out 0 for five. As soon as I got my first hit, I felt this huge weight lifted off my shoulders.”

It was enough to boost DeChavez to a four-for-four performance in Irvine’s 4-3 victory over Chapman that day.

Since then, DeChavez says, it has all been a matter of confidence.

“Now it’s a mental game,” he said. “I have a new attitude this year. I worry less about my average and think more about what will help the team. I mean, if I go 0 for four, but can get a man from second to third--whatever it takes to help us win--that’s better than helping my average.”

Unlike some college players who hope for pro baseball careers, DeChavez says he has never thought about it, even though his older brother, Oscar, played three years in the Oakland Athletics’ organization.

After batting .430 during his senior year at Katella High School, Osmar applied at Irvine--but only with education in mind.

“We had to convince him to come out for the team,” Irvine Coach Mike Gerakos said. “He really didn’t believe he would be able to handle the baseball and academics at the same time. We had him meet with some counselors to convince him he could. We still chuckle about that.”

Baseball obviously hasn’t hurt his studies. DeChavez, an economics major, has a cumulative grade-point average just above 3.0. He finished with a 4.0 last quarter.

“I got lucky,” he said.

The Irvine men’s tennis team, 6-4 and ranked ninth in the nation, will play No. 6 California at 1:30 p.m. today at Irvine.

Cal is expected to move up to the No. 2 after finishing second to top-ranked Stanford last week at the National Indoor Team Championship in Louisville, Ky. Irvine reached the semifinals of that tournament before losing to Stanford, 6-0.

Irvine defeated No. 5 South Carolina and No. 4 LSU before losing to Stanford.

Senior Brian Pajer was named the Big West Conference swimmer of the year after last week’s conference championships.

Pajer, who will compete in the NCAA championships March 22-24 at Indianapolis, set conference records in winning the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races at the Big West meet. His time in the 100 (54.26 seconds) is the fastest in the nation this season. He swam 1:32.84 in the 200.

Irvine’s other victory was in the 200-yard medley, with freshman Yusuke Bannai, Pajer, sophomore Jeff Klatt and junior Mat Curry.

Divers Trishna Coleman and Holly Powell will compete in the NCAA regional diving championships March 9-10 at Provo, Utah.

Anteater Notes

Basketball Coach Bill Mulligan, who missed the 94-76 victory over Cal State Fullerton Saturday because he was attending his mother’s funeral, joked at his Monday luncheon: “I know a lot of you are thinking ‘Why don’t you go somewhere this week and next week?’ ” . . . Since ending its 15-game losing streak Feb. 17, Irvine has won two of three games; the Anteaters play at San Jose State tonight. . . . Dylan Rigdon (nine for nine from the field) isn’t the only UCI freshman basketball player with a perfect performance. Mike Foster, a walk-on from Edison High, has made all 11 free throws that he has attempted this season.