Mike Gillespie had a premonition about Ben Orloff.
The USC and UC Irvine teaching legend guided Orloff for 2 years as an Anteater, watching Orloff develop into the baseball program’s all-time hits chief together with his peak bat-to-ball talents. Nevertheless it wasn’t Orloff’s eye-popping swing or swift velocity on the basepaths that captivated Gillespie probably the most. It was the long run he imagined for his star infielder, the then-Huge West Convention participant of the 12 months.
“I don’t know how else to say it: His instincts, his clue, his feel for the game, his baseball IQ, is like nothing else,” Gillespie mentioned as Orloff’s collegiate profession wrapped up in 2009. “He should be a major league manager. He might be wasted as a major league manager, because they can do so little, in terms of all these little things.”
The American Baseball Coaches Assn. Corridor of Famer, who died in 2020, continued: “He probably should be a college coach, a college head coach.”
It’s mid-Might and Orloff sits within the workplace Gillespie as soon as occupied. Orloff is bald with a vivid smile. He’s simply 38, and but that is his twelfth season on the UC Irvine teaching employees — and his seventh because the Anteaters’ head coach.
Orloff settles down at a desk, crosses his legs and is able to reminisce, discuss store — and reward the mish-mosh ballclub that’s set the Huge West aflame for the second consecutive season wherein it gained its second regular-season convention championship below the coach.
“Not many people get their first job ever in college with no coaching experience [and become a] paid assistant coach at a place like UC Irvine,” Orloff mentioned. “I’m aware that I was given opportunities that a lot of guys work a long time to get. I’m trying not to ruin it.”
UC Irvine baseball coach Ben Orloff walks on the sphere throughout a sport towards USC on Feb. 18.
(Matt Brown / UC Irvine Athletics)
Gillespie ultimately gave Orloff the decision again in 2013. The previous All-American, who had been taking part in within the minors since 2009, was hitting slightly below .300 and had a .379 on-base share with double-A Corpus Christi when he determined it was time to return to UC Irvine.
Orloff mentioned he all the time knew he was going to be a school coach. Whether or not it was after taking part in Main League Baseball for 15 years or immediately after incomes his bachelor’s diploma, it was a objective he strived to realize. However there was just one manner he would “quit,” as he put it, and cling up his cleats for a brand new profession: teaching at his alma mater for Gillespie.
Employed in 2013, the then-assistant was totally conscious that he knew nothing in regards to the ins and outs of teaching. Certain, he might apply the basics — the fundamentals of fielding and throwing strikes that Orloff nonetheless preaches — however a lot of the job was overseas. All he needed to do, Orloff mentioned, was to reside as much as his coach’s expectations.
“I was just extremely motivated to not let coach Gillespie down,” Orloff mentioned. “Now being in this seat, to hire a guy for professional baseball that’s never coached at any level before, you don’t do that.”
He needed to study to recruit — he nabbed outfielder Jacob McCombs (.363 batting common/.448 on-base share/.627 slugging share) out of the switch portal from San Diego State, signed junior school infielder Colin Yeaman (hitting .352 with 13 house runs) from Faculty of the Canyons, and has developed Southern California expertise equivalent to sophomore beginning pitcher Trevor Hansen (8-2 with a 3.14 earned-run common) from Royal Excessive. Orloff mentioned he’s keen to signal any participant from any degree, realizing UC Irvine’s attain is completely different from blue blood packages, equivalent to UCLA or Vanderbilt.
UC Irvine baseball coach Ben Orloff greets outfielder Jacob McCombs throughout a sport.
(Robert Huskey / UC Irvine Athletics)
Orloff remarked that the majority articles written about this system spotlight him. However he’s additionally first to reward his teaching employees, equivalent to pitching coach Daniel Bibona in his thirteenth 12 months with the Anteaters or hitting coach J.T. Bloodworth, who helped the Anteaters notch their fourth-best batting common in program historical past a 12 months in the past.
“We played together for three years,” he mentioned of Bibona. “Coach Gillespie hired him directly at a pro ball to be the pitching coach. … He does a really good job with these guys.”
“I think we broke every school offensive record last year,” Orloff remarked about Bloodworth’s impression. “This year, the numbers are like the same with a completely brand new group.”
Orloff and his employees introduced in 20 new gamers earlier than the season, restocking a roster that produced a 45-14 report and an NCAA regional look in 2024. And the Anteaters haven’t missed a beat. Irvine is ranked twentieth within the nation, in response to D1Baseball, and is pegged as the highest West Coast program within the nation — above UCLA — by the Nationwide Faculty Baseball Writers Assn., with a No. 11 rating.
“Winning matters to these guys,” Orloff mentioned of his 39-13 squad. “I think our team has placed what’s best for the team above what’s best for them and I think that’s uncommon, probably in 2025, and so I think it’s why we’ve won.”
Heading into the inaugural Huge West Convention event, Orloff mentioned UC Irvine can compete with any crew within the nation. He factors to early-season battles towards Nebraska, New Mexico and Vanderbilt — developing simply wanting a three-game sweep on the MLB Desert Invitational in February.
In relation to displaying resolve towards opponents, Orloff embraces soccer coach Invoice Belichick’s inverse idea of successful — typically credited to businessman Charlie Munger’s inversion method. As Orloff places it, the method focuses on how “before you can win, you can’t do the things that make you lose.”
UC Irvine baseball coach Ben Orloff speaks to his gamers earlier than a sport towards San Diego on April 1.
(Matt Brown / UC Irvine Athletics)
“You can look and just see how competitive they’ve been and how complete they’ve been,” mentioned UCLA baseball coach John Savage, a disciple of coach Gillespie as a USC assistant and former Irvine head coach from 2002 to 2004.
“He’s clearly, I think, the best up-and-coming young coach in America. I truly believe that.”
With Irvine on the hunt for its first journey to Omaha since 2014 — and Orloff main the best way — the Anteaters might need the suitable recipe brewing at Cicerone Discipline.
Gillespie, lengthy earlier than Orloff took the reins, definitely thought so.
“I’m not kidding, he’s a better coach than I am,” Gillespie mentioned in 2009.
