March 12, 2009

IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine's Eric Pettis and Lauren Kellerman were honored today as the Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year at the annual Big West Scholar-Athlete banquet at the Crowne Plaza Resort. Each conference school honors one male and one female athlete each year.

Pettis, a closer on the Anteater baseball team, is a two-time preseason All-American and a candidate for the Brooks Wallace Award which honors the top collegiate player in the country. The right-hander, second in the nation in saves last year, has three for the No. 10 Anteaters in 2009. He collected his first win of the season against South Alabama Sunday after pitching three hitless innings and returned against USC for a 2.2 inning stint, striking out three. He leads the team with a 2.59 ERA and has struck out nine in 10.2 innings. He has made five appearances on the season for UCI.

Kellerman, a womens' volleyball standout, is a three-time Big West scholar-athlete. The outside hitter earned an AVCA honorable mention after finishing second on the team with 349 kills. She registered a 3.32 kill-per-game average to rank 148th in the nation and was third among the Anteater leaders with 20 service aces and 259 digs. A four-time All-Big West Conference honoree, Kellerman earned Big West Player of the Week honors and concluded her collegiate career with