Ott’s Hitting Streak Ends When He Runs Out of Games

Steve Ott’s hitting streak began quietly and ended oddly.

The streak stood at 18 games after Ott went one for three in UC Irvine’s loss to UC Santa Barbara on Sunday. It might have continued, if the season had. Irvine was through for the year, and Ott’s hitting streak was over.

“It’s not really the way you want it to end,” Ott said. “But I’d rather have it end because of the end of the season than snap it in the last two games.”

There will be no more college baseball for Ott, a senior.

“That’s disappointing, but it was a good way to end the season,” he said.

Ott, who finished with 61 hits in 47 games and led the team with a .357 average, wasn’t too far from a record streak. He hit safely in 24 of his last 25 games, and 30 of his final 32.

The school record is 31, set by Jeff Malinoff in 1974.

Ott, who came to Irvine last year from Kings River College in Reedley, Calif., hit .300 last year and then worked hard in the off-season.

“I had 53 hits, and 49 or 50 were singles and the other three were doubles,” he said. “I got together with my roommate, Chris Facione, and we worked to try to get more strength.”

This season, his 14 doubles led the team. He also had a triple and two home runs.

“Even in my two years at junior college, I’d never hit a home run,” he said.

One of the motivations was the future. Ott, a right fielder for Irvine this season but an infielder much of his career, still hopes for a chance to play professionally.

“I knew coming in I had to have a good year,” he said. “I think I did.”

Ott said he hasn’t heard from any professional scouts, but based on conversations with a few knowledgeable people and the coming National League expansion, he is hopeful he will get a chance, even if he isn’t drafted.

He doesn’t run particularly well and is essentially a contact hitter, but his versatility--he even worked behind the plate during the fall--could help.

“If a scout were to call me or talk to me, I’d say, ‘Hey, I’d be willing to play anywhere,’ ” he said.

Ott is hoping some of his teammates--Matt Filson, Joe Furukawa and Facione--will get their chances, too.

“I hope everything works out for all four of us,” he said. “It would be tough if one or two of us--or maybe all four of us--didn’t get a chance.

“I’m not really ready to let go of baseball,” he said. “It’s been a part of my life for so long. It’s gonna be hard, but when it happens, I’m sure I’ll land on my feet.”

NCAA-bound: Marieke Veltman’s long jump of 21 feet 1/2 inch at the Big West Conference championships extended her school record and automatically qualified her for the NCAA championships next month in Austin.

Dustin James, who successfully defended the 400-meter conference title he won as a freshman, has provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships. Coach Vince O’Boyle said he thinks James’ time of 46.02 seconds will get James in the field.

“That’s flat-out flying for a sophomore,” O’Boyle said.

Matt Farmer, who won his third consecutive Big West decathlon title, also provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships, scoring 7,241 points.

Word on which provisional qualifiers make the field won’t come until late May, O’Boyle said.

Athletic Director Tom Ford is poised for a flip off the high dive at Crawford Pool on Tuesday if Irvine meets its fund-drive goal of $310,000. Mike Tracey, assistant athletic director for development, extracted the promise from Ford.

Irvine has raised $236,000 in a drive that ends next Tuesday. Tracey said he is “pretty optimistic” the goal will be met. Athletic department officials say they set the goal at what they considered “a realistic” level in order to avoid a sense of failure if they couldn’t raise the hundreds of thousands more the department could really use--not to ensure that Ford would take a dip.

“We’re trying to have as much fun as we can,” Tracey said. “Raising money is tough in this economy.”

The “fun” in fund raising is to make another appearance on June 22, at an auction after the Anteater Golf Classic at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station Memorial Golf Course.

Among the items up for bid: a five-day trip for two to Bali, including air fare, lodging and a golf package; two round-trip tickets to Berlin; two round-trip domestic tickets; numerous smaller vacations, cellular phones and a soft-drink vending machine.

Gabe Higa had a solid freshman year on the men’s basketball team under former Coach Bill Mulligan, appearing in 25 games. But when Rod Baker took over, Higa’s playing time disappeared. He scored two points all season, playing 17 minutes in five appearances before suffering an ankle injury in a Dec. 31 pickup game, after which Higa didn’t appear again.

Now Higa says he is considering transferring, and one of his options is Irvine Valley College, where he would be reunited with Mulligan next season on the first basketball team in the school’s history.

Higa said he also is considering other schools, and has at times expressed an interest in remaining at Irvine. He is seeking a medical redshirt year, and says the ankle injury prevented him from playing for two months.

Baker says Higa’s playing time will always be limited in Irvine’s new system, because he thinks the 6-5 forward lacks the skills to play outside and is too small to play inside.