UCI star shortstop Orloff up for special award

Shortstop Ben Orloff has been named one of 30 candidates for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School) Award.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: Classroom, Character, Community and Competition.

Orloff, a four-year starter for the Anteater baseball program, is batting .302 and is tied for the team-high with 16 hits. He tops the team in doubles with four and has also recorded four runs batted in. He holds a 170 consecutive start streak and is four games shy of 200 career games played, which would make him just the fourth Anteater to reach the 200 mark. He has committed one error at shortstop this season and has struck out just three times in 53 at bats.

A criminology, law and society major, Orloff recently concluded 40 hours of field work, serving as a teacher’s aide in a sixth-grade class and working with below-grade level students in the area of math.

The initial list of 30 will be narrowed down to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will then be placed on the official ballot. The award winner will be announced and recognized at Omaha’s Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium during the 2009 NCAA Men’s World Series.

No. 10-ranked UC Irvine will play host to Nevada this weekend, opening a three-game series that starts Friday at 6 p.m.

— From staff reports