CHATHAM — Devin Lohman took one look in the mirror and immediately liked what he saw.

     Staring back at the slender 19-year-old second baseman was a reflection of himself modeling a Mohawk his roommate Jake Thompson had just shaved into his head. 

     Inside his head, Lohman pictured the mockery that was about to come from his Chatham A’s teammates. He also envisioned the coach’s caustic comments and the funny looks from fans. But as he slid his right hand over the ceiling of his skull, watching the hairs get raked down before they reflexively rose back up, he remembered why he went all punk-rock in the first place. 

     “With the team not doing that well, I decided it would become the rally-hawk,” said Lohman. 

     That’s exactly what it became. Those spikes helped spark Chatham, which was coming off a crumbling 13-2 loss to Cotuit that dropped the team to 1-5 before Lohman decided to get creative with the clippers. 

     The new-look Lohman drove in a key run in Chatham’s ensuing 5-4 victory over Brewster to raise the A’s from the basement of the East Division, and the next night, the prickly-haired sparkplug had a Cape League game for the ages, one that could make even the most cynical scout smile. 

     He went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, two walks, two stolen bases and two runs, including the game-winner after Evan Ocheltree drew a bases loaded walk in final frame, giving the A’s a 6-5 walk-off win over Falmouth. Lohman fist-pumped his way down the third baseline and tossed his helmet to the heavens before getting a mob-like meet-and-greet at home plate. 

     “I wanted to get home so bad and I was looking for that passed ball, so when it became ball four, I didn’t know what to do,” said Lohman. “I was just pumped.”

     Through his Little League-like love of the game, scout-pleasing skill set, and, of course, outdated hairdo, Lohman – the A’s RBI leader – has found a way to make himself stand out. A little something extra is what’s needed, however, when most people know you more by the position you play at school than your name. 

     You see, Lohman is the next link in the chain of Long Beach State shortstops who’ve had a recent history of gobbling up ground balls at the Southern California school before quickly prospering in the pros. 

     To begin, there’s Bobby Crosby, who won the American League rookie award in 2004 after hitting .232 with 22 home runs and 64 RBIs for the Oakland A’s. Following that – and maybe most famously – is Troy Tulowitzki, last year’s National League rookie of the year who hit .291 with 99 RBIs and led the Colorado Rockies to the their first-ever World Series. 

     Next is former Chatham A’s All-Star, 2005 Cape League MVP and projected MLB rookie of the year, Evan Longoria, who’s off to a rock-solid start for the Tampa Bay Rays (15 home runs and 47 RBIs in his first 71 games). 

     And finally, there’s Chatham A’s alumn Danny Espinosa, the third round draft pick of the Washington Nationals, who used the Cape League to help launch his major league career. 

     So renown is the six-spot at LBS that when Tulowitzki returned for the team’s baseball banquet this year, he came with custom T-shirts embroidered with the phrase, “Long Beach State, Shortstop U.” That, maybe more than anything else, let Lohman know that playing in the space between second and third can be a blessing but also a burden. 

     “I came to school thinking I have some big shoes to fill,” said Lohman, who played most of his freshman year at second base but will move over to shortstop next spring. “I was kind of tripping out. You start thinking, how can I do this? How can I be the next one?”

     Although he got off to a solid start at LBS, those thoughts began to consume Lohman, who suffered through a slump and turned to Ken Ravizza, the team’s on-call psychologist. 

     “There were times I felt the pressure of having so much on my shoulders, but if you focus on that you’re not going to play well,” said Lohman of the advice he received. “You have to let it flow, you have to have fun, and you have to realize you’re playing for this school for a reason.”

     With that in mind, Lohman regained his early season form, finished his freshman campaign hitting .253, while guiding the 49ers to a 38-21 mark and a Big West Conference championship. 

     Now, instead of feeling like he’s in the shadows of those LBS alums he sees on Sports Center, Lohman is buoyed by their success. “It makes you want to work harder every single day seeing how possible it is,” he said. “It proves you can make it if you work hard. It’s motivation for sure.” 

     Freshman Phenom 

     Lohman didn’t love baseball from the beginning. Growing up, it was his older brother, David Jr., who was the big shot, not just around the local ball parks but in the batting cage their dad built in the back of their 10-acre home in Santa Maria. 

     Sibling rivalry is what drove Lohman to excel, and he soon became a star at Righetti High School, where he led the team to two league titles and was its MVP as an upperclassmen.

     One major league team to take notice was the Minnesota Twins, but Lohman declined their offer to be selected in early rounds of the 2007 draft. He also turned down Colorado, which selected him in the 42nd round. 

     For Lohman, the decision to forgo the fast cash was really no decision at all, as it allowed him to test his talent at the collegiate level and in its auspicious summer leagues. And nowhere do hitters get a better feel for college baseball’s best than here on the Cape, “where you’re facing a Friday night guy [the opening pitcher of a three-day college series] and 94 MPH every single night,” said Lohman.

     The frequency of failure is so great in the Cape League that at the beginning of the season, Chatham Field Manager John Schiffner informed the A’s that seven of the 10 teams hit below .250 last year. 

     “As far as average, I don’t have a numbers goal,” said Lohman. “I want to become a good base runner, sharpen all five tools and improve my strikeout to walk ratio, because that’s when you know you’re seeing the ball well.”

     To that end, he’s succeeding. 

     Through the first quarter of the season, Lohman is hitting .341 – 10th best of all Cape League hitters who’ve played a minimum of 10 games – has driven in a team-best 12 RBIs with one home run, and is 3-for-3 in steal attempts. 

     “I’ve always said it takes a freshman quite a while to adjust down here and he’s adjusted and performing very well, especially offensively,” Schiffner said. “He’s a solid defensive player at second and at short [where he’ll be used more in the second half of the season], he hustles, he runs out ground balls, he’s a high energy guy and a gamer.”

     But Lohman’s best quality may be his sunny SoCal mien. 

     Witness, before a recent game, as Lohman playfully tosses sunflower seeds at friend and teammate Victor Sanchez, who’s trying to give a radio interview, or his candy-catching circus act, in which he tries – and at times succeeds – at using nothing but his mouth to snag starbursts thrown sky high. 

     All of it is meant to keep things light and loose in a sport notorious for being kind one minute, cruel the next. 

     “Some games you go 0-for-4 with two diving plays and others you go 3-for-3 with an error,” said Lohman. “Baseball is a game where the odds are always against you, so it’s a great feeling when you’re able to overcome those odds.”

     They always aren’t statistically based either, as Lohman found out Friday night when he hurt his left knee during the second inning in Chatham’s home game against Wareham.

     After limping into dugout, Lohman’s leg lay parallel with the wood bench and he rested his head on his duffel bag, hoping for a positive prognosis. He let out a sigh of relief when the A’s trainers tell him it’s just a strain, not a tear, as does Schiffner, who reassuringly rubs his hand on his head and tells him, “You’re all right.”

     “I’ll play tomorrow,” said Lohman, as carefree off the field as he is competitive on it.

     “Well, let’s wait and see,” said Schiffner, who makes the point that missing one game won’t hurt; what will is re-aggravating the injury and missing five or 10 or even the entire season.

     “I’ll play tomorrow,” Lohman said again. 

     Under Schiffner’s orders, he doesn’t, but he was back in the lineup Sunday against Harwich, and drove in a run as the team’s DH. 

     Fans will see Lohman back in the field and in the lineup this week, they just won’t see him with a Mohawk anymore. Not long after the A’s winning streak, he shaved off the spikes and now sports a crew cut.

     But the rally-hawk isn’t gone for good. It just got passed on to teammate Bobby Hernandez, who took a cue from Lohman and buzzed his hair ala Travis Bickle to help the A’s, 6-8 and only five points out of first place, bounce back from a loss last week.

     “The funny part is we lost, Bobby shaved his head and won again,” said Lohman, “so if we go on another losing streak, somebody else will have to wear the rally-hawk.”

     The whole thing may seem silly, but the fact it’s caught on is also rather revealing. For a kid who’s trying to follow in the footsteps of others, Devin Lohman sure does a lot of leading.