Saranac Lake Surge baseball players Daniel Dominguez, left, and Skylar Mercado were guests on Wednesday at the Olympian Celebrity golf tournament at the Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE — The regular season for the Saranac Lake Surge baseball team begins in five days.

Saranac Lake, one of six teams competing in the independent Empire Professional Baseball League, kicks off its season on the road Wednesday, June 19 against the New Hampshire Wild.

The team’s 21-player roster was finalized Friday at the conclusion of the league’s five-day tryout camp in Georgetown, Delaware.

The Surge begin their schedule with a seven-game series against the Wild at Memorial Field in Concord, New Hampshire, and then head closer to home to take on their next opponent, the Plattsburgh Thunderbirds. That matchup will feature a five-game series at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Chip Cummings Field starting on June 26.

The Surge’s home opener at their Petrova Avenue field will be July 3 at 1 p.m. against the Road City Explorers, one of two EPBL squads based in Puerto Rico. Saranac Lake will host the Explorers for six games, including a doubleheader slated for July 5.

Skylar Mercado and Daniel Dominguez are two players who were already added to the Surge roster earlier in the week. The pair made a guest appearance in the area when they played in Olympian Celebrity tournament in Lake Placid on Wednesday.

Mercado is a 24-year-old infielder from the Bronx who played last season with the Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers in the United Shore Professional Baseball League in Michigan. He also played NCAA Division II collegiate ball for the University South Carolina Aiken.

Dominguez, a 25-year-old from Los Angeles, enters his third season in the EPBL. Last summer, Dominguez was on the Old Orchard Beach Surge and follows the club in its move to Saranac Lake. He played 45 games with the Surge in 2018 and finished with a .293 batting average. His team prior to the Surge was the New Hampshire Wild. Dominguez also has collegiate baseball experience and most recently played in Mexico prior to this summer. He is listed as a first baseman on the Surge roster.

Wednesday marked the first time both players traveled to the Adirondacks, although Dominguez said he was somewhat familiar with the North Country after playing baseball in the area against another EPBL team, the Plattsburgh Thunderbirds.

“We were chosen early to be on the team, so we were asked to come up here and represent the Surge,” Mercado said after finishing his round of golf Wednesday at the Lake Placid resort. “It’s gorgeous up here. Being from New York, I’ve heard about Saranac Lake, but I’ve never been around here or in these Adirondack Mountains. This is just unreal here. It’s breathtaking.”

Like all the players competing in the EPBL and leagues across the nation, Mercado and Dominguez have two objectives. They are looking to earn the opportunity to move up to compete at higher professional levels and also play on a successful, and hopefully, a championship team.

“I think the team goal is always to go as far as we can and reach the playoffs and win a championship,” Mercado said. “Being in independent baseball, your personal goal is get out and move up into a higher league or go onto affiliated baseball.”

“We met some of our teammates earlier in the week,” Dominguez added. “Seems like a good group of guys so far, but we won’t know what our team will look like technically until Friday. It will be tough to tell until everybody gets together, and we understand what we want to do as a team. We all want to move on individually, but we also want to come together as a team and perform as we want to.”

The Surge have a 40-game regular-season schedule with 23 of those contests slated for their home diamond. They play their final 18 regular-season games at home during a run that stretches from July 16 to Aug. 8.

Ken Matsuzaka, who managed the Surge in 2018 when the team was based in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, will again lead the squad this season. As a returning player eager to improve, Dominguez says he’s excited to have the opportunity to work under Matsuzaka’s leadership again.

“He’s one of those guys who’s been all over the place. He has knowledge from all over the place,” Dominguez said. “As developmental players, we’re trying to pick his brain and learn everything we can from him.”

Local baseball fans will also be treated to this summer’s EPBL all-star game and home run derby, which takes place at the Saranac Lake diamond on Sunday, July 21 starting at noon.

“The site is something that is voted on every year,” said league director Eddie Gonzalez. “There’s already been a great response with the team coming to Saranac Lake. We’ve received a lot of local support, and I think it’s a perfect place for the game this season.”

Obviously, both Mercado and Dominguez dream of making it to the big leagues someday. But whether or not that happens, the game of baseball will continue to be a big part of their lives, no matter how far the sport takes them.

“I love the camaraderie — a bunch of individual players coming together for a common cause and winning a championship or trying to win as many games as you can,” Mercado said. “From the outside looking in, from a fan’s standpoint, it looks like baseball is a big world. There are leagues all over the place, but within the baseball community, everybody is intertwined somehow and in some way. That’s how you make friends. That’s what I enjoy about this game; the relationships I have formed and will probably have the for the rest of my life.”

“In baseball, there a lot of little things that people don’t see from the outside, like what it takes to be a good player,” Dominguez said. “There are a lot of pieces you put together to be an overall dynamic fundamentally sound baseball player and excel in different leagues. To be able to play against players who are also working for the same goal and competing; it’s just a good feeling. It brings me joy and I’m sure it brings a lot of others joy. That’s why guys are still playing in leagues. It’s more than just about money, it’s about a passion. It’s more than just paper. It’s more like a personal thing.”