New Gloves Give Brunswig a Handle on His Batting Slump : Baseball: Canyon first baseman responded with three hits in two 4-A playoff victories. Comanches play Savanna today.

Jeff Brunswig says he isn’t superstitious. So when Canyon’s first baseman fell into a hitting slump at the beginning of the season, he didn’t rub his bat with a rabbit’s foot or burn his batting gloves.

Brunswig did take extra batting practice and continued to work on technique with Coach Hi Lavalle and assistant John Leavitt.

Brunswig generally contributed one hit a game as Canyon won the Century League baseball championship. But he had problems shaking the slump and his average remained under .300 for one of the county’s best-hitting teams.

“Jeff started pressing mentally,” Lavalle said. “He went to the plate with less confidence than he deserves.”

Finally, in an act of desperation, Brunswig changed batting gloves before the Southern Section 4-A playoffs. The gloves seem to be a perfect fit. Brunswig has responded with three hits and two walks in victories over Moreno Valley Canyon Springs and Fullerton. Next up for Canyon: a quarterfinal game at 3:15 p.m. today against Savanna.

Brunswig is coming off a three-for-four performance in a 4-3 victory over Fullerton. The three hits improved his average to better than .300 for the first time this year.

“It was my best game of the season,” he said. “It was nice to finally contribute and have an impact in the playoffs. I started the year well in the Glendora tournament and then couldn’t buy a hit when our league started.

“It got to the point where I was trying to do too much. I was popping everything up. It was very frustrating to be on a team where everyone hits so well and I wasn’t hitting at all.”

Brunswig got his three hits off Fullerton starting pitcher Jerry Martinez, the most valuable player in the Freeway League.

“I wanted to get up to the plate every inning,” he said. “I was seeing the ball great. I seemed like I knew what they were going to throw me.”

Brunswig has been a three-year starter on the baseball team and will graduate next month with seven varsity letters. He was a three-year starter for Canyon’s football team and competed in the heavyweight division for the Comanches’ wrestling program this season.

Brunswig will attend UC Davis, where he expects to compete in football and baseball for the Division II school. He plans to major in sports medicine.

“It was my only solid offer,” he said. “They stayed with me from the beginning of the season until the end. I liked the college town atmosphere at Davis, and its football program is going Division I in 1994.”

Brunswig played running back, wide receiver and outside linebacker at Canyon, but achieved only moderate success in his three seasons as Canyon struggled to a 10-18-2 record and failed to reach the playoffs.

“It was a little frustrating playing football at Canyon,” he said. “It seemed like we had two or three really good players every year, but we never had much depth. This season, we had 40 players and half of the starters went both ways.”

Brunswig helped the Comanches’ wrestling team win the Southern Section 4-A championship. He advanced to the sectional meet, where he lost to eventual champion Mike Bolster of Huntington Beach in the second round.

“One of my goals was to get a CIF (Southern Section) championship ring,” Brunswig said. “I came close last year in baseball. Hopefully, we’ll get back to Anaheim Stadium again.”

Canyon lost to Capistrano Valley, 8-3, in the 4-A title game last year.

This summer, Brunswig will compete for the Irvine Tigers in Connie Mack League baseball and continue to work under Coach Kevin McNair, who specializes in improving players’ speed.

“My goal is to make the (football) traveling team at Davis,” he said. “I’m 220 pounds now, and I hope to report at 235 pounds when practice starts in August.”