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WATERVILLE — Nathan Paes loves baseball.

He loves it so much, he was willing to travel 10,155 miles from his native Sydney, Australia, to Waterville this summer to play ball.

“(Maine and Australia) has its differences,” Paes said. “Back home, we don’t have many lakes or many rivers. It’s mostly the beaches. It’s a different part of nature, but (both) are very environmentally focused. … I enjoy the game, I’ve loved it since I first started playing it. I get to meet new people and see new places (through baseball). It’s a worldwide sport. It’s a great experience.”

Paes traveled farther than any of his teammates to play for the Waterville Woodworkers, the newest team of the Maine-based Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League. He didn’t travel to Maine by happenstance; he will be attending Thomas College in the fall and will play for the Terriers baseball team.

“I got in contact with Thomas (College), a couple of the coaches, about a year ago,” said Paes, an outfielder. “I eventually committed here and I was looking to come over early, get used to college ball, what it would be like. This (team) had the home field, so I figured it would be a good fit. It’s great. I’m getting used to the field more before I start up, I can’t complain, it’s been real good.”

The GNBCL provides collegiate baseball players an opportunity to stay sharp during the summer. It’s modeled after the more prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League, which attracts the top college talent in the nation, and the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). One Maine-based team, the Sanford Mainers, has played in the NECBL since 2002. One alum of the GNCBL, Augusta native and University of Southern Maine player Kyle Douin — who played for the Augusta Surgin’ Sturgeon last summer — played for the Mainers this summer.

The Woodworkers are mostly comprised of Division III players from Maine: Thomas College, UMaine-Farmington, University of Southern Maine and Saint Joseph’s College. Waterville also recruited players from across the country, or in the case of Paes, around the world.

“For me, Maine is exactly the way I wanted it to be,” Buck said. “It’s a reason my brother and I came here. We’ve been able to do a lot of fishing and a lot of outdoor opportunities. We went to the coast, with the team, to do some camping and fishing. It’s been wonderful. We went up to Rangeley and did some trout fishing up there.”

Local players on the roster drive to and from games. The out-of-state players stayed at an Airbnb in Phillips, a 71-minute drive to Waterville.

“It’s wild,” said Woodworkers coach Jake Budyka, who was named GNCBL Coach of the Year on July 23. “Getting (the players) moved out of their first house, persevering through four days in a hotel. And now they’re an hour and a half away, up in the mountains. For them to persevere and come to the ballpark with an attitude of, ‘We had an hour and a half drive, but now it’s time to play ball’ (is huge). They’ve adjusted well.”

The Waterville Woodworkers are the sixth team in the GNBCL. They join the Augusta Surgin’ Sturgeon, the South Portland Puffins, Bangor Babes, the Old Orchard Beach Bugs and the Sebago Slammin’ Salmon.

The Woodworkers went 11-6 in the regular season, good for first place in the Northern Division. They lost to eventual league champion South Portland in the quarterfinals.

Unlike the NECBL, the GNCBL is a for-profit league. It launched as an informal Portland-based league in 2017, but in 2024 was purchased by The Players League, a group based out of North Carolina. According to its website, The Players League looks to “Help baseball teams scale as large entertainment businesses, through strategic partnerships with sports and entertainment industry leaders around the country.”

The group owns seven collegiate summer baseball leagues, including the GNCBL. The other leagues are the Cowboy Collegiate League in Texas, the Old Dominion State League in Virginia, the Old North State League in North Carolina, the Orange State League in Florida and the Volunteer State League in Tennessee. A seventh league, the Palmetto State Baseball League in South Carolina, will begin play in 2026.

Players in the GNCBL are not paid. Peter Profenno, general manager of the Woodworkers, said The Players League owns the Woodworkers and has paid Budyka’s salary and living accommodations for the season, as well as the Airbnb for the out-of-state players.

Three teams within the GNCBL — The Surgin’ Sturgeon, the Babes and the Beach Bugs — are owned by Wasabi Sports Ventures, a venture capital firm in Florida. Along with the three GNCBL franchises, Wasabi Sports Ventures also owns a pair of teams in the Old North State League.

Jeff Musgrove, the Wasabi operating partner who co-founded the firm with TK Kuegler, said last year his company has invested at least $20,000 in startup costs for the Maine teams, including bats, uniforms, equipment and ballpark leases.

Profenno, a 2018 Thomas College graduate, has a previous background in ticket sales, both with the Portland Sea Dogs and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. Profenno’s responsibilities with the Woodworkers include overseeing travel and scheduling, ticket sales and sponsorships. Profenno even runs the concession stand at games.

The team secured a valuable sponsorship during the season with Maine Billets, the workshop in Anson known for the torpedo bat, currently a popular brand with Major League Baseball.

For the team’s management, the season was a strong start for a new franchise. For the players — particularly the out-of-state players — the season was worth the journey.

“There’s no better team that we could have asked for,” Buck said. “I think everyone on the team would agree, we’d rather play for this team 10 times out of 10 than anyone else in the league. Everyone bought in, everyone wants to be here, which is exactly what you want in a summer ball team.”