OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Professional baseball returned to Old Orchard Beach for the first in nearly 30 years last summer when the independent Old Orchard Beach Surge debuted in the new North Country Baseball League.

After the inaugural season of the NCBL concluded, owner Bruce Zicari decided he couldn’t afford to personally fund the four-team league and shut down operations. That would put the future of the Surge in jeopardy, but fortunately for local baseball fans, an ownership group – which includes Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Matt Joyce – stepped up and created a new league for the Surge and three other independent teams.

The Empire League will debut this June with the Surge, the New Hampshire Wild, Watertown (New York) Bucks and Sullivan (New York) Explorers set to take the field.

“It’s now official … we are coming back,” said OOB Surge General Manager Alex Markakis, who has been working hand-in-hand with the new league’s ownership group to make this happen.

“It would have been a shame after all the hard work and dedication from everyone that was involved last year, for all of it to go down the drain, and we were fortunate enough to have some MLB-affiliated guys that really took over this league,” said Markakis, who played college baseball at nearby St. Joseph’s College.

Leading the way for the Empire League is Eddie Gonzalez, who is the league’s director of baseball and business operations.

“Eddie Gonzalez and Matt Joyce are two guys that really know how this all operates. Eddie Gonzalez played independent professional baseball for 10 years, so he understands how things work,” said Markakis.

This is actually the third league in two years for the Surge as they were originally supposed to play in the East Coast Baseball League, but that league never got off the ground after owner Colin Cummins was unable to live up to several promises.

Following that experience, and playing last year in the NCBL, which was put together at the last minute, Markakis is thrilled to be working with a more experienced ownership group.

“It’s been tough, especially with the whole thing last year with Colin Cummins. Now that we are dealing with stand-up guys that aren’t talking a bunch of gibberish, you know, they are really stand-up guys and they already sent the security deposit in (for use of The Ballpark), which is good,” said Markakis. “There is real money there, there’s real people and not only that, but the most important part is you have to (have) people that are real baseball guys.”

The Empire League also added another experienced baseball guy in former Atlantic League executive Matt Snyder, who will be the league’s director of business administration.

“He’s been involved with professional baseball for 15 to 20 years. He’s worked with every single team you can think of that’s up there. He’s overseeing the business aspect,” said Markakis, who believes Snyder will bring some key leadership to the league. “He’s kind of like the commissioner, which is good because we really didn’t have any guidance last year.”

Markakis believes the Surge will be better positioned to succeed under the new ownership group.

“This year is a lot better structured. It’s a lot more organized and we have a lot more people in place that know their roles. It’s kind of like a team … you’re only as strong as your weakest link. Everyone pulls the caboose up and you all work together.”

The Surge GM is also happy to see that the other three teams have established homes this season after seeing the NCBL struggle with one full-time road team and another club turn into a road team midway through the 2015 season.

“It’s good now that those other teams have home bases, because now we can do a lot more traveling and we can be exposed all over New England and New York as well. It’s good to have home games, but it’s good to go on the road, too,” said Markakis.

The Surge, who will once again be under the guidance of field manager Scott “Skip” Nathanson, will play a 57-game regular season schedule – with opening day set for June 3 at The Ballpark.

Old Orchard Beach will also host the 2016 Empire League All-Star Game on July 2 at The Ballpark – and Markakis believes that will be a special weekend.

“It’s going to be huge,” said Markakis of the All-Star Game. “We are going to have the home run derby at 3 p.m. and the All- Star game at 7, so we expect a great crowd. It’s going to be a great event.”

New car up for grabs

One Surge season ticket holder will walk away with a free one-year lease of a brandnew Chevy Cruze from Emerson Chevrolet and Buick in Auburn.

Every Surge adult season ticket purchased will be entered into a drawing, which will be picked at the last home game of the season.

“Someone’s guaranteed to walk out with a car,” said Markakis.

For season tickets, check out oobsurgebaseball.com.

Host families needed

The Surge are looking for local families to help provide housing for the players this summer.

“We are currently looking for new host families to help us out. Placing these young men in a good environment is the most important thing we do. We owe this to them and their families that are watching them live out their dreams in professional baseball,” said a press release from the team.

Host families will be given a season ticket for each player living in their house, which means they will be entered into the drawing for the new car.

“Unfortunately with our independent professional budget, we aren’t backed by any (Major League Baseball) team that puts (the players) up in housing or hotels for the whole season. I need to find housing,” said Markakis.

For more details or to become a host family contact Alex Markakis at [email protected].

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 322.