UCI’s Pettis, Kellerman honored by Big West

UC Irvine’s Eric Pettis and Lauren Kellerman were honored Thursday as the Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year at the annual Big West Conference Scholar-Athlete banquet at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Irvine.

Each conference school honors one male and one female athlete each year.

Pettis, a junior closer on the Anteaters baseball team, is an 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 with 17, has four for the No. 10-ranked 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 2/3 inning stint, striking out three. He leads the team with a 2.59 earned-run average and has struck out nine in 10 2/3 innings. He has made five appearances on the season for UCI.

Kellerman, a senior women’s volleyball standout, was a three-time Big West scholar-athlete. The outside hitter earned finished second on the team with 349 kills. She registered a 3.32 kill-per-set average to rank No,. 148 in the nation and was third among the Anteater leaders with 20 service aces and 259 digs. She is a four-time all-conference honoree.

— From staff reports