This is the fourth and final edition of our series on International baseball. D3baseball.com highlights Chapman graduate Gabe Bonfanti. Previously, D3baseball.com caught up with Gary Kahn in Sweden, Todd Emr and Brian Hurld in Belgium, and John Alexander. Visit Otterbein's Aaron Hutchison's blog on his experience overseas.

By Travis Cross

We've talked to recent college graduates pushing for one more at-bat, one more inning on the mound, and one more summer of zero responsibility. We've also talked to a catcher who hung up his spikes in favor of a wedding band. Just when we're led to believe that international baseball is a short-term gig, Gabe Bonfanti comes along and flips perception on its head.

Bonfanti, a 2005 Chapman graduate, currently plays for Senago Milano United in Italy. Senago is part of Serie A2, the second-highest level of Italian baseball. Bonfanti has been playing International ball since 2004, and yes, your math serves you right. He is one of the few D-III players to have played overseas before his NCAA eligibility expired. With six years of experience in Switzerland, Australia, and Italy, it's no stretch to say he's carved out a nice professional career.

Italian baseball is by far the most intense we've looked at this summer. While other leagues have felt like a summer fling, Italian teams are in for the long haul. Like all Italian sport, which includes Formula One racing and soccer, no baseball team has an actual owner but instead are operated by sponsors.

"With soccer there is no problem for the sponsors to pump millions of Euros into a club because it is a lucrative business," says Bonfanti. "With baseball, teams have bigger problems."

Baseball, as Bonfanti said, is not a profitable business but it hasn't always been this way. In the 1970s and '80s baseball was a money-generating machine. Made up of a majority of imported players swinging aluminum bats, every game provided fast paced entertainment for the thousands of A1 baseball fans. The lack of Italians on each team prompted an ill-conceived and irreversible change in the late 1980s.

The decision was made for the number of foreigners to be limited. There are now only four "Oriundo," or foreigners with passports, allowed on each team. This caused a drastic drop-off in level of play, which carried over to fan attendance and then sponsor investment. Add this to the lack of media coverage and baseball faded away into the twilight.

"Game highlights don't make the newspaper, A1 games are televised once a week at 10:00 p.m.," says Bonfanti. "[They are] produced badly and don't really generate much interest because of the time slot."

The rule tinkering has led to where the league stands today. There are four levels of baseball: A1, A2, B and C. The top level is A1 where eight teams compete and the lowest is B and C where about 70 teams reside. Each year, the winner of A2 switches with the last place team in A1 and the last four teams swap between levels A2, B, and C.

Confused yet? Here comes the easy part.

A1 teams play three times a week with specific roster restrictions for each game. Game 1, unless televised on Thursday, takes place on Friday and is the only game a foreign pitcher can pitch. Game 2 is an Oriundo pitching match-up and Game 3 is reserved for Italian pitchers. The number of runs scored rise each game as level of pitching decreases.

"[It] makes for better baseball so I think this rule will stay in effect again for next year," says Bonfanti.

In A2, things are a little different. One doubleheader is played weekly with Game 1 reserved for Italian pitchers and Game 2 for the one foreign pitcher allowed per team.

"For all the mental and physical errors I've seen," Bonfanti adds, "someone has to win and there are lots of one run ballgames."

When he first went to Switzerland in 2004, Bonfanti served as both pitching coach and pitcher for his team. In Italy, many of the teams hire Cuban coaches to coach and manage. The Cuban style of baseball is more refined than Italian baseball and the Cuban-coached teams tend to win the close games more often.

A2 teams draw 50-250 fans a game with playoffs drawing many more. Nettuano, which is the birthplace of Italian baseball as well as one of the more popular A1 teams, draws 2,000-4,000 fans a game.

The size of the venue as well as location has a huge impact on attendance. In Avigliana just outside of Torino, the team plays underneath an old castle set on a hill behind left field next to a section of the Alps. There's no option but the scenic route to those games.

"Lots of teams have scoreboards with Roman numerals signifying the innings," says Bonfanti.

Bonfanti is an Oriundo and has held this honor since 2006. Five seasons of International baseball give him a few insights to Italian culture.

"People here tend to focus more on quality of life rather than quantity of life," he says.

He also says that two-hour meals in the middle of the day, four weeks vacation time for every profession, and inability to form a line are common occurrences.

"I could see myself living outside the States but know that eventually I'll find my way home," says Bonfanti.

Bonfanti has been researching teams in Australia and Mexico for his next tour so it doesn't appear "eventually" means anytime soon. His Italian won't be any good in the Western hemisphere but he knows something that might help him cope.

"There are a lot of cultures and languages out there but in between the lines the language of baseball is universal."

Good thing Bonfanti is fluent.

Milano was recently eliminated from the playoffs. Check out the game summary from the final two games. The language used is, for lack of a better word, entertaining; especially for fans who read news releases often.