Business Owner, Ball Player Come to S.Y.A.G.'s Aid, Donate Bleachers

On Tuesday Sachem Youth Advisory Group (SYAG) baseball officials were downtrodden that someone would steal $10,000 worth of bleachers from their facility on Smith Road in Lake Ronkonkoma. One day later things have changed drastically.

Jason Merz, a landscape design company owner from East Islip, and Ray Navarette, a baseball player from the Long Island Ducks, said they will donate the funds to purchase new bleachers before the league’s opening day on April 14.

“I’m speechless,” said S.Y.A.G. Baseball Commissioner Bob Cummings. “It’s an amazing thing. I went from broken hearted for the children, to where things can be great. It’s exciting that there is someone out there who cares about it to do it. It makes my job worth it.”

Merz, whose wife is an elementary school teacher at Chippewa in the Sachem Centarl School District and a Sachem alum, owns Smithtown-based Metamorphosis Landscape Design. He has been a baseball fan for life and still plays competitively in his mid-30s.

“I couldn’t believe what happened,” he said. “It struck something inside me.”

Merz, who resides in East Islip and has a 10-month old son, is excited for the day he can watch his boy play baseball. To think that parents would have to stand, or possibly miss games, because of the stolen bleachers, hurt him as a father and fan.

“It made me feel so good I knew I was doing the right thing," he said. “Everybody was hurting. I’m glad I can help.”

The bleachers were stolen sometime between Wednesday and Sunday of last week. Pieces of the bleachers were scattered across the property, leading to a residential fence on Damon Lane in the neighborhood next to the complex.

As of Wednesday afternoon there were no updates to the initial story. Sachem Patch will post updates when possible.