Alex Margulies, the Miracle radio announcer, has his notes already prepared for the game. He’s in the midst of the first day of an 80-hour work week. Besides the ushers, no one else is in the stadium.

Margulies’ booth is game ready, headphones are in place. An green ocean of empty outfield grass awaits the action Margulies will call.

It should be an exciting evening for the 22-year-old Barron Collier graduate. The game marks the debut of “Miracle Monday Night Game of the Week,” broadcast across Southwest Florida on ESPN 770 AM. Storm clouds, however, threaten everything.

“If it rains tonight, I have to change clothes and pull tarp with everybody else,” Margulies said. “In minor league baseball, you have to wear a lot of different hats. That’s the way it is. Everybody does everything. There’s no job too little for anybody.”

Regardless of whatever tasks may pop up, Margulies is ecstatic to be where he is.

Tall and husky, Margulies manned the offensive line for Barron Collier back when Billy Sparacio, now at First Baptist Academy, was the coach. After graduating in 2005, Margulies headed to the University of Miami, studying broadcast journalism and sports administration.

He interviewed for the Miracle announcing job for the 2009 season, was among the final two out of 150 candidates. Didn’t get the job.

“I had my heart set on it,” Margulies said. “You could say I was disappointed.”

He got a summer job announcing for the Outer Banks (N.C.) Daredevils in the Coastal Plain League, moved back to Miami and got involved with a start-up fall professional baseball league. The league collapsed after a month.

As fate would have it, Margulies received an e-mail from the Miracle inquiring about his interest in calling games for the 2010 season. A few weeks later, he was part of the team.

“A lot of people would kill to do this,” said Margulies, who grew up in Lake Tahoe, Nev. following the San Fransisco Giants. “I’m very excited, at my age, to be where I am.

“I’ve always been passionate about baseball. I’ll get to call 140 games this year. That’s over 1,000 innings to work on my craft.”

As a child, Margulies would fall asleep listening to Duane Kuiper call Giants games. It’s part of what led in his interest to be involved with broadcasting baseball.

“I just enjoy the game of baseball,” he said. “For an announcer, it’s more conversational. Because baseball is slower, it gives you an opportunity to tell more of a story.

“It’s about painting a picture. It takes a lot of preparation to tell people more than just what’s going on in the game. It’s important to tell where a player comes from, how they developed.”

Margulies’ home run call, though a work in progress, is filled with enthusiasm. He describes his style as a “big ball of energy.” In the Miracle’s first game this season, they lost 18-3 - brutal for an announcer trying to keep an audience’s attention.

“Those can be hard,” Margulies said. “You live for those do or die situations, where it comes down to one pitch. Where a team wins with a walk off.”

In the Miracle’s game against the Stone Crabs, Margulies gets his wish. The game is knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the tenth. The Miracle have men on first and second. Second baseman Drew Thompson doubles off the right field wall. Miracle win 3-2.

“That was fun,” Margulies said about calling the winning at-bat. “What a blast.”