Baseball:

June 22, 2009

IRVINE, Calif. --- Ben Orloff (Simi Valley) was voted to the Lowe's Senior CLASS All-Senior All-America first team while Florida infielder Brandon McArthur came away as the winner of the award.

Orloff, one of five named to the All-America first-team, was recognized as an exemplary student-athlete who excelled in four areas; classroom, character, community and competition on the field.

The shortstop was named the Brooks Wallace Award winner and also received All-America nods from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Collegiate Baseball following the conclusion of the 2009 season.

Foregoing a professional baseball career after being drafted by the Colorado Rockies in 2008, Orloff returned for his season year and helped UC Irvine to a No. 1 ranking and its first-ever Big West Conference championship.

Orloff became UCI's all-time leader in games played (241), at bats (877), runs (178) and hits (281) also is just the second Anteater to record 60 or more steals (61).

In the community, Orloff volunteers at his church, visited the Children's Hospital of Orange County and also tutored elementary school students as part of fieldwork during the fall quarter.

Orloff, received his degree in criminology and was named a Big West Scholar-Athlete and UC Irvine's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Joining Orloff on the first-team are McArthur, Scott Bittle, (Mississippi), Jason Haniger (Georgia Tech) and Adam Warren (North Carolina). The second team includes Brian Cloud (Texas Tech), Grant Escue (Bradley), Nick Faunce (Kansas), Nate Freiman (Duke) and Matt Nohelty (Minnesota).

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