Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Patrick Murphy presents Empire Professional Baseball League head Eddie Gonzalez with a check that will allow the youth of the community free admission to all Saranac Lake Surge home games this summer. Also pictured, from left, are Saranac Lake Mayor Clyde Rabideau, John O’Kelly of Northeast Taekwondo, Saranac Lake Free Library director Pete Benson and Lindy Ellis of Gear-To-Go Tandem Bicycles. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE — Six days and counting.

That’s the time remaining before Saranac Lake’s newest baseball team, the Surge, will play its first home game of the season.

After kicking off its Empire Professional Baseball League schedule with 12 games on the road, the Saranac Lake Surge will finally get to compete on home turf July 4 when it takes on the Road City Explorers starting at 1 p.m.

Crews have been busy this week preparing to get the team’s Petrova Avenue diamond ready for the holiday home-opener. There are new dugouts, fences have been erected along the right field line and in center field, a concrete pad has been poured that will support the stands behind the backstop, and even Mayor Clyde Rabideau got into the act.

On Friday, Rabideau grabbed a tape measure, and with Chamber of Commerce Director Patrick Murphy standing at home plate, they teamed up to measure the distance to the home run fences. The right field corner was 326 feet from the plate, the longest distance in center field measured 408 feet, and the left field line reached the fence at 333 feet. These numbers are similar to the size of Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Rabideau and Murphy were among a handful of local officials and business owners who came to the diamond Friday to welcome EPBL Chief Executive Officer Eddie Gonzalez, who traveled to Saranac Lake with his wife and three children for the occasion.

The big news that came out of the gathering was that a number of local businesses came up with financial support that will allow all youngsters age 16 and under to attend every Surge home game free of charge. Admission for adults will be $5.

Murphy made the announcement and then presented Gonzalez and the league with an oversized ceremonial check of $2,200 that was raised through business donations. The groups banding together to come up with the money included the Point Resort, Carcuzzi Car Care Center, the Kiwanis Club, Gear-to-Go Tandem Bicycles, Northeast Taekwondo, Rabideau Corp., the Saranac Lake Free Library and Cape Air.

Rabideau said Hyde’s Mobil will also have refrigerator magnets with the Surge schedule at both its Saranac Lake locations, and Guide Boat Realty will provide free commemorative opening-day T-shirts for the first 50 youngsters and the first 50 adults who walk through the gate for the July 4 game.

Murphy explained how a community effort evolved to help area youth gain free admission to the Surge’s home games.

“The school district and Paul Smith’s College have already been big supporters to help make the team feel welcome here, but there are a number of different businesses too, that when the mayor, the chamber, called them to step forward and provide some more financial assistance to the team, they stepped up to the plate, pun intended,” Murphy said.

“The whole goal was to make sure that youth, kids could come to the game for free all summer long and have another summer activity,” Rabideau said. “All the kids 16 years of age and younger can come to every single game free for the whole season, and that’s what it’s all about. This should be a lot of fun for the community.”

Gonzalez, who calls Florida home but has spent recent summers promoting baseball in New York, said he was overwhelmed by the support the team has received.

“I’m very grateful for everything you guys have done,” Gonzalez said. “Our focus is to provide this great dream opportunity for these young men that are playing ball because they all played at collegiate levels where maybe the exposure wasn’t quite there. The whole purpose of the Empire League is to get these guys who are very talented, who just didn’t have that exposure, to play in these small towns and be uplifting to our youth community, and that’s a big priority for me.

“I believe kids nowadays are kind of too stuck on the whole video game scene, and staying inside and leaning into other things,” Gonzalez continued. “If I can just provide my expertise, which is just a little bit of baseball, we can get kids out in the sun, get kids throwing the ball around and give them something to look up to. For me, that’s a dream come true.”

The Surge players, who are staying at Paul Smith’s College, are expected to be welcomed on opening day with some July 4 holiday fanfare. After the traditional Kiddie Parade on Thursday wraps up at the Riverside Park band shell, the team will be introduced and be available to meet the local fans prior to heading to the field for pre-game warm-ups.

“We’ll go through a little Yankee Doodle Dandy stuff and then we’ll get down to baseball,” Rabideau said. “And what’s more American than baseball?”

The Surge will most likely be looking forward to finally playing at home, especially after what has turned out to be a rocky road trip. On Friday, Saranac Lake lost its fourth straight game, and third in a row against the Plattsburgh Thunderbirds by a 13-6 score at Lefty Wilson Field. The Surge dropped to 3-6 with the setback while the Thunderbirds improved to 7-0 and are the only unbeaten club in the six-team EPBL.

The Surge wrap up their six-game series in Plattsburgh with contests on Saturday and Sunday and then have three days off before their home-opener. There are 19 home games scheduled in Saranac Lake, and the Surge will also be the host team for the EPBL home-run derby and all-star game, which is slated for July 21.