Baseball is every little boy’s dream. They eat it, the breathe it, they play baseball until the sun goes down in the summer. Ask any child you see on a diamond what they want to be when they grow up and the answer is almost the same; a major league baseball player.

For many of those children that dream will eventually fade away for different reasons. Baseball often takes a backrest to cars, girls, jobs. But for some, that dream still burns brightly. For many of the Quinnipiac baseball players, even though their season was somewhat disappointing, many of them would be able to hang with the pros.

Take Charlie D’Elia for instance. He leads the team with a .328 batting average and is second in home runs and slugging percentage (4, .504%). His four home runs are more than any other Detroit Tiger has the entire season in about the same number of games. D’Elia also has one of the best fielding percentages on the team. In a recent double-header against the Diamondbacks, the Mets made eight errors, two more than D’Elia made the entire season.

What about sophomore Albert Marano? His five home runs and twenty five ribbies led the team this season. Think he can’t fit onto a major league roster? He has more home runs and runs batted in than World Series MVP Troy Glaus and David Eckstein combined.

Keith Avery is no stranger to the bases. He racked up thirty-three hits for the season and walked a team leading seventeen times. Notoriously patient, Craig Biggio has only walked six times, but has struck out twenty times already. I’d want Avery on my team, so let’s send him to Houston.

Kevin Macilvane had a great rookie season, batting .319 in ninety-one at-bats. Highly regarded Yankee rookies Hideki Matsui and Erik Almonte are batting .254 and .253 respectively.

Freshman Chris Wakefield could take the place of the “other” Wakefield on the Red Sox. Their ERAs are almost identical (Chris-4.37 Tim-4.31) as well as the amount of batters they’ve struck out (26 and 27 respectively). Upon further review, Wakefield may statistically be the reincarnation of the 2003 version of his knuckle-balling counterpart.

Congratulations to Junior Buddy Bengel, who won four games this year. That’s more wins than his first two seasons combined. Bengel also led the team in earned run average with a crisp 2.91. That’s better than Pedro, Maddux, Curt Schilling, and Randy Johnson.

Mike Sparh did wonders from the bullpen this year (1-1, 3.68 era. 2 saves). Sparh only gave up nine earned runs in twenty two innings pitched, struck out twenty seven and walked only thirteen batters. Now, if I could only think of a team that needs an arm in their bullpen.

Junior Dave Bennet compiled a 4-6 win/loss record, equaling his record from last year, but lowered his ERA. by almost two whole points. Bennet only gave up one home run to the two hundred and two batters he faced this season. Pedro Astacio has given up four long balls in only ten innings pitched this year.

I understand that comparing our Bobcats to major league players may be a little far fetched. But I ask you, when you played baseball, wouldn’t you do the same? I know I did.

So, congratulations to the graduating seniors and good luck in wherever the road takes you. Best wishes to the boys who return next season. Keep playing baseball, stay healthy over the summer, and don’t forget about that kid that used to dream he could play in the majors.

I hear the Tigers are looking for players.