COLLEGES:

As the constancy of the tax deadline brings to mind other absolutes, the foremost absolute with the UC Irvine baseball program these days is the presence of senior shortstop Ben Orloff.

The field general for the No. 3-ranked Anteaters started his 182nd straight game Monday against visiting Loyola Marymount, a streak during which he has played very inning.

Entering this five-game week, which concludes with a three-game Big West Conference series at UC Riverside, Friday through Sunday, Orloff ranks in the top five in five career statistical categories at UCI. With two runs Sunday, he took sole possession of the career record with 149 (Mike Nagle had 147 from 1978 to 1981). And, barring the unforeseen, “Benny O” will pass Nagle in career games played (needing four games to match Nagle’s 216).

The Simi Valley High product, who literally ruined at least one garage door by banging a tennis ball off of it and into his glove as a child, entered Monday tied for second in career stolen bases (54), fourth in hits (235) and fifth in at-bats (746).

But that only gauges the tangible measure of his contributions. And to judge the returning first-team All-Big West performer without intangibles is to completely miss the point.

After Orloff went three for four and was the central catalyst in a 9-5 win that finished a three-game sweep of Big West rival Long Beach State Saturday, UCI Coach Mike Gillespie, in his second year at UCI, but in his 38th season as a college coach, needed little prompting to gush over the total package that his 5-foot-11, 170-pound leadoff man presents.

“I sometimes hesitate to praise guys until they’re gone, because some guys can’t handle it,” Gillespie said. “And then they’re up for ridicule by their teammates, because the coach loves him and all that stuff. Well, this guy’s different. One, he can handle it and two, everybody else feels the same way. There’s not anybody that doesn’t love him and doesn’t realize what a special player he is.

“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. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. The guy is just ... I’m not kidding. I shouldn’t be surprised, yet something always comes up where I’m surprised.

“He has made three runners slide into second base on hit-and-run dekes [simulating making a play on a ground ball when, in fact, the ball was hit into the outfield]. Every middle infielder is supposed to do that, and yet some guys are better at it. He’s spectacular.

“And he doesn’t change. There’s no ego, no arrogance. He’s unselfish to the absolute max. I mean, 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 we’re talking about. He probably should be a college coach, a college head coach, and he’s ready to do it right now. I’m not kidding. He’s a better coach than I am.

Gillespie still wasn’t through.

“He’s a joy, an absolute joy. And you can tell him how great he is and he’s gonna shake it off and it ain’t going to change him.

“He’s not gonna hit .420 and when it comes to the end-of-the-year awards, what’s gonna happen? The fact is, he ought to win the Golden Spikes award [presented annually top the top player in the nation]. But we know how that goes; it doesn’t work that way.”

 Orloff started innings three times with hits Saturday, including a drag-bunt single in the third, after which he eventually scored. His ability to pick short-hop throws out of the dirt, then quickly stab back down to tag out runners, is a less-subtle skill that has impressed UCI observers. And his snap release, often after spinning or leaping to redirect momentum toward first base on ground balls that require great range to track down, often generates hearty cheers from Anteaters rooters.

After registering zero extra-base hits and hitting .217 as a somewhat overmatched freshman, Orloff has worked himself into becoming UCI’s toughest out and most consistent hitter. Entering Monday, he was hitting .366 (61 points higher than his career mark entering 2009).

And, since his freshman year, he has 32 doubles, which equates to 21.7% of his hits going for extra bases since his debut campaign.

 Orloff elected not to sign after being drafted in the 19th round by the Colorado Rockies last June. He will, undoubtedly be drafted again, putting his coaching career on hold.

 Beyond anything he does between the lines, Orloff is also universally praised as, perhaps, the most personable player ever to wear a UCI uniform.

When he found out after Saturday’s game that he was the player chosen for the regular promotion in which a double would reward all fans in attendance with a double-decker hamburger at a popular local chain, Orloff was as quick with a quip as his release from deep in the hole.

“I didn’t know I was the double-double guy,” he said. “If I would have known, I would have taken some different swings, maybe.”

 Orloff laughed heartily when informed of the press-box consensus that he be awarded three stolen bases on a first-and-third delayed-double-steal attempt Saturday. Orloff triggered the play by breaking from first to draw a pickoff throw from the pitcher. In the subsequent action, Orloff advanced to second, then third, only to retreat successfully to second, before Long Beach State could record an out. The play left runners at second and third and both eventually scored.

The one steal with which he was credited on the play gave him a team-high 10 for the season.

 With UCI baseball’s hot Big West Conference start (8-1 to forge a three-game lead over a second-place chase pack), the Anteaters climbed to No. 3 in the Baseball America poll released Monday.

The UCI men’s volleyball program can top that, however, as Coach John Speraw’s squad regained the No. 1 spot after wins last week against then-No. 1-ranked Pepperdine and then-No. 4-ranked USC.

The Anteaters drew 2,421 spectators against USC Wednesday and 2,587 for Pepperdine Saturday.

By contrast, the total attendance for the three-game home baseball series against Long Beach State, Thursday through Saturday, was 2,432.

The men’s volleyball team, which enters the two regular-season matches tied with Pepperdine atop the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, has played before an average of 2,815 it last four matches, including two at BYU.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.