Groton — Richard Slenker has a post-college graduation plan and back-up plan, covering all the bases for his future.

His first choice is to pursue a professional baseball career. He's playing for the Mystic Schooners of the New England Collegiate Baseball League this summer after enjoying a highly-successful season for Yale, earning All-Ivy League second team honors.

If that doesn't work out, Slenker, a political economy major entering his senior year this fall, will head to Washington, D.C., and find a job working for the government.

"Probably something security related," said Slenker, who's originally from D.C., then moved to New York and now lives in Wilton. "I've always had a fascination for international relations and doing some sort of service for the United States."

Judging from his player profile on the Yale baseball website, Slenker is as productive off the field as he is on.

Slenker is the co-founder of a private company called Drones Daily. He started it about three years ago with his sister's friend. He came up with the idea while on the disabled list.

"I was hurt one summer and it was when drones got big, so I got one and realized how powerful they are," Slenker said. "We kind of just molded it into something that we didn't expect."

Slenker explained what his company is all about.

"We collect aerial content, pictures and videos from across the world...," Slenker said. "We're more like a middle man between people that need the content and people that are distributing the content. We're big on Instagram right now, with 40,000-something followers."

Here's an example of the content: "Recently a guy who's filming agricultural shots out in Australia and trying to get business for people who work in Australia, he came to us and we're re-posting his stuff and people have contacted him."

Right now, it's more of a side job for Slenker, who does it in his free time. Down the road, there's growth potential for his company.

But chasing his baseball dream is his first priority at this time.

"I've kind put it on the back-burner a little bit because of baseball," Slenker said. "But I think there's something there. If I focused my time and effort into it, I think I could make it something big."

His remaining summer plans include trying to help the Schooners do something big.

Mystic (21-12) resides in first place in the Southern Division with 11 regular season games remaining. The top four teams in each division qualify for the postseason.

"Everyone wants to win a championship," Slenker said. "We're having a lot of fun as a team, that's important. I think everyone has gotten into the rhythm and the groove."

Slenker, a third baseman, is having a productive second season with Mystic. After a slow start, he's raised his batting average to .300. He drove in his 18th run of the season with a single in the ninth inning on Wednesday against Plymouth, forcing extra innings.

He's done whatever the team needs him to do, including filling in at second base on Tuesday night.

"He was willing to go to a position that he wasn't totally comfortable with," manager Phil Orbe said. "That's just the type of person he is. He's one of those young people that you meet and you know that you don't have to worry about him because he's going to turn out all right.

"... He's very level-headed and has a great perspective on things. He's a very bright young man."

News and notes

• Surging Mystic beat Plymouth, 4-3, in 12 innings on Nick Mascelli's RBI single. ... Aaron Hill, a Fitch graduate, extended his streak of reaching base to 30 consecutive games. ... Mystic's pitching staff has collectively lowered its team earned run average to 4.22 after a bumpy start to the season. "Guys are settling in and Dennis Long, our pitching coach, has done a tremendous job working with the kids," Orbe said. ... Assistant coach Chris Wojcik, a 2006 Montville High School graduate, has accepted a job as assistant athletic director and baseball coach at Loomis Chaffee in Windsor.

g.keefe@theday.com