A half-dozen baseball players with local ties continue to live out the dream of every kid in America: Their job is to play baseball.

A trio of Bucknell alums are part of the group, including reliever Matt Daley, who turned a dominating performance in Class AAA earlier this season into a regular spot in the Colorado Rockies' bullpen.

In addition, local high school products Bobby Felmy, Matt Wright and Travis Smink are all continuing their professional careers.

Wright, out of Midd-West, recently picked up his first career victory while Smink, a Line Mountain grad, earned his first save.

Here is a look at how the local players have fared recently (statistics are through June):

n Mark Angelo, AZL Mariners

The 2008 Bucknell grad who was drafted out of East Stroudsburg, has two hits in his first 15 at-bats with the Arizona League Mariners.

Seeing time in both the outfield and at first, Angelo is batting .133 with two runs scored and drove in his first professional run with an RBI single in the first inning of Saturday's game against the Indians. Despite hitting just .133 Angelo has an on-base percentage of .350 thanks to four walks.

At 4-4, the Mariners are in fourth place in the Arizona Rookie League's Western Division.

n Jason Buursma, Palm Beach Cardinals

Since getting promoted to Palm Beach after a dominating nine-game stint at Quad Cities, the former Bucknell All-American has lowered his ERA in every appearance this season.

After allowing two runs in 2/3 of an inning in his debut with Palm Beach, Buursma has allowed just one run in his next five appearances, pitching 10 1/3 innings. He has allowed just one run in his last 11 innings and has a 2.45 ERA in six appearances in the Florida State League. In nine games in Quad Cities, Buursma allowed just one run on six hits and the former 25th-round pick was promoted on June 11. He has a combined ERA of 1.59 in 22 innings with 18 strikeouts and just five walks in two stops within the Cardinals' system.

Palm Beach is 31-44 overall in the Florida State League South, including a 2-3 mark in the second half.

n Matt Daley,

Colorado Rockies