Fifteen-year-old Zack Spal is living many a young baseball fan's dream. During the day, he's a mild-mannered student at Randolph High School. But he turns into "Bat Boy" when the Newark Bears are in town.

Spal interviewed for the job in April and made quite an impression on Ken Bossart, controller of the Bears, who play in the independent Atlantic League, whose teams include the Somerset Patriots, Camden River Sharks, and Atlantic City Surf. A fifth team, the Road Warriors, is based in New Jersey but has no host city.

As a batboy, Spal is responsible for the care and feeding of the Bears and their field, Riverfront Stadium. He makes sure the players have enough sunflower seeds and gum, keeps the water jugs filled, and works with the umpires, providing them with fresh batches of baseballs.

The soft-spoken teen says he enjoys his work and the players treat him well, but he has no interest in pursuing his "career" to the major league level.

Surprisingly, Spal has also no interest in playing the game. Instead, he is a goalie for both the Randolph HS ice hockey and soccer teams. He will take a couple of "leaves of absence" from the Bears to attend goaltending camp later this month and to serve as the goalie for the under-16 soccer team in the JCC Maccabi Games in Houston, Aug. 5-10.