Jacoby Ellsbury wasn’t too hot on the idea of a new hairdo, but he wasn’t about to back down when it came to a matter of loyalty to his college team.

The Central Oregon native and former All-America outfielder at Oregon State had faith in his Beavers.

Jed Lowrie, the former infielder at Stanford, stood true to his school as well.

When Oregon State and Stanford met a couple of weeks ago in Corvallis in the NCAA baseball Super Regionals, Ellsbury and Lowrie decided there had to be more at stake than just bragging rights.

So the two – former Pac-10 rivals and now teammates with the Class A Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks of the Boston Red Sox organization – worked up a little wager.

”The loser,” Ellsbury explained, ”had to shave his head to a mohawk.”

The Beavers beat the Cardinal in the best-of-three Super Regional, two games to none.

So … a little more off the sides, Jed?

”And the bet was that he had to wear it that way until Oregon State loses out of the College World Series – or wins it all,” Ellsbury added. ”He’s still wearing a mohawk right now.”

That was Thursday, as Ellsbury detailed by phone from Delaware. That night, after the Blue Rocks defeated the Potomac Nationals 3-1 with the help of a sacrifice fly by Ellsbury, Lowrie was STILL wearing a mohawk. Because Ellsbury’s Beavers were STILL winning – their fourth in a row, a 2-0 decision over Rice that vaulted OSU in the CWS finals.

And if Lowrie holds up his end of the bet, he’ll be wearing ultrahigh sideburns until Oregon State and North Carolina conclude their best-of-three series for the NCAA championship.

Ellsbury is the 2002 Madras High School graduate who last year was Oregon State’s junior center fielder and leadoff hitter, helping the Beavers to their first College World Series appearance in more than half a century.

It was a humbling two and through for OSU in the ’05 CWS. And though his selection in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft and subsequent $1.4 million bonus for signing with the Red Sox helped ease the disappointment of an early series exit, Ellsbury still yearned for his college teammates to redeem last year’s showing in Omaha and win it all – even if he was with them only in spirit.

”It’s been awesome watching them play,” Ellsbury said, adding that after Blue Rocks games all this past week he has hustled into the clubhouse to catch the late innings of the Beavers’ march to the CWS finals.

”I remember last year as such a great experience,” he said of OSU’s 2005 Omaha trip. ”But it’s different for this year’s team. They’ve been there before. We lost last year, but they know we were competitive in those games (a 3-1 loss to Tulane, then a 4-3, 10-inning elimination loss to Baylor).

”They worked hard to get back, and now they know how to win in Omaha.”

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Things are going well for Ellsbury, too. Despite some down time due to injury – a rundown run-in with a Potomac catcher in late April that resulted in a strained right quadriceps and a short rehab assignment in Florida – the former Madras High School all-stater is making his mark in the Carolina League.

Going into this weekend, Ellsbury was leading his team in batting with a .324 average that ranked No. 2 in the entire league. He also led the Blue Rocks in stolen bases with 17 (in 24 attempts) and ranked among team leaders in runs scored (29), hits (60), home runs (four), runs batted in (27), slugging percentage (.438) and on-base percentage (.397) – despite playing in only 46 of Wilmington’s first 73 games.

”I think I’ve improved a lot as a player,” he said. ”My progress has gone real well. I’m real confident in my hitting, but I want to be improving in every aspect of my game.”

After a strong first season in pro ball last summer at Class A short-season Lowell (Mass.), Ellsbury was promoted by the Red Sox this year to Wilmington – advanced Class A – bypassing low-A ball entirely.

”Next stop is Double-A,” Ellsbury said, optimistically. ”And from there, they say, you’re just a call away from the big leagues.

”But things are going well here – we won the first-half division title, so we’re automatically in the playoffs. I’m happy to be here right now.”

And happy to be rooting for his Beavs.

With a full head of hair.