CRANBERRY TWP — It’s a dream many baseball players have, but relatively few get the opportunity to live it.

Count Kyle Helisek among the select few.

The 2008 Seneca Valley graduate was drafted in the 30th round of Wednesday’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Helisek, a 6-foot, 170-pound left-handed pitcher, graduated from Villanova University less than a month ago. He becomes the 63rd player in that program’s history to be taken in the draft.

“I was following the draft on and off on the computer,” said Helisek. “I saw my name come up and then, about a minute later, I got a call from the Cardinals, saying that they did indeed take me and they congratulated me.

“Right now, it’s just complete excitement,” he added. “I wasn’t drafted last year and that makes it that much more special for me. They said they would be in touch with me to let me know where I’ll be going.”

Helisek appeared in 15 games for Villanova this spring, starting 12. He won three games and struck out 40 batters in 66 innings pitched. Over his last four starts, he held opponents to a .220 batting average. Villanova finished the season with an overall record of 28-27.

“It was a tough year,” he said. “I knew I needed to put up good numbers and was hoping to put up ones a little better than I did,” he said.

His collegiate career included 11 wins with 148 strikeouts in 270.1 innings. The last number is good for sixth on the Wildcats’ all-time list.

“This is an exciting day for Kyle and for the Wildcats program,” Villanova head coach Joe Godri said in a released statement. “Kyle was an integral player for us and I am thrilled that he will have the chance to begin his professional career with the Cardinals. Kyle pitched a number of big games for us and he is ready for this opportunity.”

Helisek has four pitches in his arsenal — fastball, curveball, change-up and slider.

He showcased his stuff for the Cardinals at a pre-draft workout, held on Villanova’s campus in late May.

“I rely on my change-up most of the time,” said Helisek, “but at the workout, my fastball was clocked at 92 mph and my curve was working. I came away from that very satisfied.”

Helisek will now await his first professional assignment. A possible destination could be Johnson City (Tenn.), where the Cardinals have a rookie league affiliate.

“I’m going to work as hard as I can,” he said. “That’s what got me here.”

Helisek joins a long list of former Seneca Valley players who have been drafted since 2000. It includes Zach Jackson, Brian Stoecklein, Ryan Page, Chris Tremblay, Dom Duggan, Cory Mazzoni, Kevan Smith, Tyler Bream and Jack Graham.

“It’s nice to have my name among those guys,” said Helisek. “I played with a lot of them and they’re all good ball players.

“Seneca Valley’s reputation is getting better and better.”

“It never gets old seeing one of our former players get the opportunity of a lifetime,” said SV coach Eric Semega. “First and foremost, all of those guys worked very hard. Hopefully, we did something that may have played a minor role in their development as a player.”