BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS: DAY 3 : ORANGE COUNTY OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK : Nevin’s RBIs Help U.S. Beat Taiwan

Phil Nevin has sported a new look in Barcelona, shaving the Olympic rings into his hair, just above the ear.

And Nevin helped the U.S. baseball team survive a close shave Monday, edging Taiwan, 10-9, in a second-round game.

Nevin, the No. 1 pick overall by the Houston Astros in baseball’s amateur draft last month, doubled twice and added a home run to lead the United States.

The former Cal State Fullerton standout had three runs batted in and scored twice for the United States, which blew a three-run lead before rallying for its second consecutive victory.

The Americans nearly wasted Nevin’s offense, blowing a 3-0 lead early and nearly letting a five-run advantage slip away in the last three innings.

Nevin’s solo home run sparked a three-run seventh inning that gave the United States a 10-5 lead. But a shaky U.S. bullpen let Taiwan back in the game by giving up five walks, three hits and four runs in 3 1/3 innings.

U.S. relief pitcher Darren Dreifort gave up four runs--including a three-run homer by Kuang-shih Wang--in the seventh as Taiwan cut the lead to 10-9.

The United States trailed, 4-3, after the fourth, but Jeffrey Hammonds and Nevin had put the United States ahead to stay in the fifth. Nomar Garciaparra doubled and scored on Hammonds’ two-out single off Ming-hung Tsai.

Michael Tucker walked, and Nevin fought off a pitch with two strikes before pulling an inside fastball into the left-field corner for a two-run double and a 6-4 lead.

Nevin, the team’s leading hitter in a 29-game pre-Olympic tour with a .391 average and 25 RBIs, was 0 for 2 with a stolen base Sunday in the United States’ 4-1 first-round victory over Spain.

The victories left the United States in good position for the medal games next week. The top four teams from the eight-team round-robin tournament will play for the first Olympic baseball medals. It was previously a demonstration sport.

Some critical words by Newport Beach’s Steve Timmons might have served as some inspiration to Japan’s volleyball team.

Japan lost a five-game match to the Americans on Sunday, only to have a protest later upheld by the International Volleyball Federation, giving Japan a four-game victory.

It was a drastic turnaround from Japan’s tour of Southern California in mid-May, when the United States swept the Japanese in World League matches at San Diego and Irvine.

After the first victory, Timmons took a parting shot at Japan’s lime-green and black uniforms, as well as the team’s play.

“I think the Japanese right now are probably as bad as their uniforms,” he said.

But two months later, it was Japan that was dressed to kill, taking a two-games-to-one lead before the United States rallied for the apparent victory.

Federation officials overturned the United States’ controversial victory, ruling that American Bob Samuelson should have been ejected from the fourth game at match point for getting a second yellow card for yelling at officials. The ejection meant a technical point for Japan and the match.

HOW THE OTHERS FARED

--Lanee Butler, San Juan Capistrano, and other windsurfers had their Monday heats delayed until today because of a lack of wind.

--Mike Lapper, Huntington Beach, helped the U.S. defense shut down Kuwait, 3-1, in soccer pool play.

--Greg Springer, Costa Mesa, and partner Jonathan Smith of Swampscott, Mass., finished second in the double sculls rowing heat with a time of 6 minutes 33.59 seconds. Germany’s Peter Uhrig and Christian Haendle won the heat in 6:28.24.

Uhrig and Haendle advance to the semifinals, and Springer and Smith transfer to Wednesday’s second-chance qualifying races.

WHO’S COMPETING TODAY

Nick Becker (Newport Beach), Carlos Briceno (Fountain Valley), Scott Fortune (Laguna Beach), Brent Hilliard (Dana Point) and Steve Timmons (Newport Beach) with U.S. volleyball team against Canada.

Lanee Butler, San Juan Capistrano, in windsurfing.

Michael Chang, Coto de Caza, in singles tennis.

Janet Evans, Placentia, in 400-meter freestyle swimming heats, finals.

Chip McKibben, Balboa Island, in quadruple sculls elimination heats.

Phil Nevin, Placentia, with U.S. baseball team against Italy.

Erika Von Heiland, Anaheim, in classification-round badminton matches.