Hall of Fame Class: Ben Orloff

The Simi Valley native and Simi Valley High School alum was a relative unknown going into his junior year of high school baseball. Playing scout ball and attending showcases hoping to catch to eye of a college program. And he did so with coaches Dave Serrano and Sergio Brown from UC Irvine. 

Orloff and his squad at SVHS would go on to win the CIF Division II championship thanks to a play by Orloff himself gunning down a runner at the plate for the final out.

A year later he was joining the Anteaters with similar expectations for what was to come. UCI baseball was just off its fourth year of a return after a 10-year hiatus and its second coach after John Savage jumped to UCLA after three years with the 'Eaters. Regardless, Orloff was just happy to be wanted and be at a college playing baseball.

Things progressed quickly for Orloff and the Anteaters. Orloff was second in the batting order on opening day staring down 100 mph from Brandon Morrow on the mound. The season took them into the postseason again in Malibu - first against the program's old coach, John Savage, and UCLA and finishing in a 14-inning marathon against Missouri and their big name, Max Scherzer.

A lot of what sticks in Orloff's mind isn't the accomplishments, but more so the team milestones is what he takes pride in. The very next year, UCI built on their postseason run and embarked on a magical ride deep into the College World Series topping programs like Texas, Wichita State, Arizona State, and even the rivals, Cal State Fullerton, to really solidify the Anteaters' profile.

Following the postseason run came a bump in the road for the program. As Orloff and his teammates were heading into the weight room, rumors of coach Serrano leaving and a team meeting came down. Orloff's first thoughts were this was wrong and the meeting was to clear all this up, and off to continue training he and the team went. Later that afternoon as they headed to the field, they noticed coaches, administrators, and a much different feel about what was happening.

After the meeting, the team sat there taking in the news.

“I was sitting there thinking well somebody's got to say something. So I just said, ”we had good coaches ,they're gone. We won the games; we can keep winning.""

The Anteaters went right back to work training, practicing, lifting, just like before as the search for a new coach progressed, but the standard had already been set by the players.

“That group of players, a lot of them were not recruited by a lot of other places. We got to experience winning and really saw that we can win. We're not less than any of these other programs, especially when we were just in Omaha - it's easy to believe that. We were internally motivated to go back there and win and it didn't matter who the coach was. We saw where success came from and we can do those things.”

Throw into the mix one of the greatest college baseball coaches of all time in Mike Gillespie and it's no wonder why the Anteaters continued their success. Four straight years of postseason appearances during Orloff's playing career including a Super Regional trip in 2008 and in 2009, UCI was the No. 1-ranked team in the nation as it entered the postseason hosting a regional for the first time and running away with the Big West title with a 22-2 record.

“What happened to me here in four years, somebody that loved to play, loved the game, to come here and play with such good players, for some of the best coaches in the country and what I was able to learn. I have immense pride in what some may say is my career, but really what happened during my four years here at UC Irvine.”

At the end of Orloff's playing career, he had become the standard in the Anteater record books with the most games played, at-bats, hits, runs scored, and among the top 10 in doubles and stolen bases. Not to mention he had been hit by pitch more than any other Anteater which stood until 2021, racked up exactly 100 RBIs, and was far and away the program's leader in sacrifice hits - a mark that still stands as an NCAA record which included the NCAA best of 34 in the 2007 season.

His merits seeped into the national spotlight with the Brooks Wallace Award given to the nation's best shortstop in 2009, an ABCA Gold Glove Award, All-American status, and Big West Player of the Year. 

Orloff was even drafted twice, once after his junior season in the 19th round, but he declined to return for that well-decorated senior season that boosted him to a ninth-round selection by the Houston Astros.

Ben's career took him across the country playing on teams like the Legends, Jethawks, Valleycats, and Hooks. He even made an appearance in the World Baseball Classic as a member of Team Israel getting on action in the qualifiers.

Orloff continued his consistent play against professionals - 339 hits, .283 average, 56 stolen bases, more walks than strikeouts, and an above average glove from every spot in the infield over his minor league career.

Things began to hit neutral during that fifth season in 2013 where even Orloff's play on the field wasn't enough to get him time in the lineup ahead of players that the organization had earmarked time and play. It was about that time that his head coach from UC Irvine, Mike Gillespie, was reaching out to Orloff about something he had an eye on for many years already - coaching. Orloff mulled it over for the better part of a week all the while in Double-A was continuing to get passed over in the lineup despite a 25-game on-base streak and striking out once every 16-or-so at-bats.

“I really started being interested in doing anything else - I wanted to get traded, wanted to get released, that was the first time in my life it made it hard to go to the field every day, when your performance didn't matter.”

Coach Gillespie finally offered the job and it was an easy “yes” from Ben. Things still needed to be ironed out so Orloff went about his business. He was scratched into the starting lineup after a player had to leave for a funeral, and Orloff responded with a four-hit game alongside teammates and future Major Leaguers like George Springer, Domingo Santana, and Max Stassi. The next three games went by without Orloff seeing any action before the official call came in from coach Gillespie. Just like that, Ben Orloff went from Double-A professional baseball player to UC Irvine assistant coach as he stepped into Newkirk Pavilion less than 48 hours later.

The coaching career has been first class as well helping the program back to the College World Series in his second year on the staff while continuing to produce winning seasons and MLB draft picks along the way.

Five years into his coaching tenure, Orloff was handed the reins of UC Irvine baseball after the retirement of another Hall of Famer, Mike Gillespie. Orloff has kept UCI at the top of its game with winning seasons in all four years, the program's second Big West title in 2021, and a return to the postseason with a 45-win season.

“I'd like to be a really successful head coach here. The guy that I worked for is one of the best ever to do it and I'd like to be really successful here and have a long, successful second career. One where I can give a lot of kids the opportunity to experience the things that I got to experience, the opportunity for them to do that and be able to win some games.”

A tall task that coach Orloff admits can feel a little uncomfortable - to be part of your school's Hall of Fame at his age at a place that he still comes to work at every day. It's unexpected.

“I have an immense amount of respect for people when they have a Hall of Fame. I have our guys do presentations on alums every day, and when they're talking about Hall of Fame Rod Spence, Hall of Famer Tom Spence, their brother is in a Hall of Fame. It sounds a lot cooler when you're talking about it with other people than when you're talking about yourself.”

“But to be in your college Hall of Fame, the UC Irvine Hall of Fame, at a school like this playing with the players I played with and guys that I coached and those that came before me, it's beyond special and the highest honor.”