Atlantic Collegiate league ready to play

Osprey's second baseman Ryan Brockett of New haven College takes... — Osprey's second baseman Ryan Brockett of New haven College takes a low and inside pitch for a hit up the third base line in the bottom of the second. The Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, five teams of college kids, play 40 games in 44 days on the east end, and draw big crowds. (July 20, 2011) Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan

By MITCHELL FREEDMANmitchell.freedman@newsday.comMarch 12, 2012

Major League Baseball's seasoned veterans and hopeful newcomers are playing in Arizona and Florida at their spring training camps.

Meanwhile, on Long Island, the younger and more hopeful Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League -- made up of college players who dream of getting drafted to the big leagues -- is showing dramatic growth, adding three teams to the existing eight-team roster this year.

That means nearly 75 more college players from across the country will be looking for host families to put them up for the 40-game season, with new teams forming in central Nassau, Center Moriches and Shelter Island.

In all, about 200 college players will need housing from early June to the end of July -- longer for those who make the playoffs -- and some will also be looking for part-time summer jobs.

"Kids from all over the country want to play in the Hamptons," said Tom Bonekemper, president of the Atlantic league. "Eighty percent of the players are from out of town. In the rest of the country, it's the opposite."

The games are played on local fields -- although on Long Island that means anything from the well-maintained and spacious fields at the Southampton Campus of Stony Brook University to a town park in Peconic where some balls drift out into the neighboring vineyard.

Attendance at the games is free, although teams pass the hat -- asking for contributions to a fund that helps support the players.

Major league scouts actually do attend some Atlantic league games -- Major League Baseball is a sponsor -- and the local league boasts that 14 alumni were invited to spring training in 2010 by major league teams.

The new Shelter Island team, the Bucks, will be playing at a field by the high school.

"Isn't that neat," said Town Supervisor James Dougherty. "I've been drafted to sell hot dogs at some of the games . . . I gave up tickets to the Yankees after the strike. Now I have this."

There are three divisions in the regional Atlantic league: Hampton, Kaiser and Wolff. The Hampton division now has seven teams, including the new Shelter Island Bucks and the Center Moriches Battlecats. The Kaiser division, covering the rest of Long Island, has four teams, including the new Long Island Shamrocks, who are expected to play at a stadium in the Mitchel Field area, league officials said.

Along with the six teams in the Wolff division, which covers parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it makes the region's Atlantic league the largest collegiate summer league in the country, Bonekemper said.