Oct. 1, 2009

IRVINE, Calif. --- Collegiate Baseball has selected Ben Orloff (Simi Valley, Calif.) as the 2009 Easton Sports Division I Defensive Player of the Year.

Orloff, the 2009 Brooks Wallace Award recipient, given to the nation's top shortstop, posted a .976 fielding percentage last season, committing just seven errors in 288 chances. Offensively, Orloff posted a .320 career batting average at UCI and is the program's all-time leader in games played (241), at-bats (877), runs (178) and hits (281). The 5-11 standout guided the program to four consecutive post-season berths, including two Super Regionals and a College World Series appearance in 2007.

In 2009 Orloff led UCI with 91 hits and batted .358 with 28 RBI as the Anteaters captured their first-ever Big West Conference title with a 22-2 record. UCI hosted a regional for the first time in school history and Orloff became the first Anteater to be named the Big West Player of the Year following a stellar senior campaign.

Drafted by the Houston Astros in the ninth round, Orloff received third-team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and was a second-team selection by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association last season.

Click here to see the Collegiate Baseball release