Everyone knows that if they’ve seen the Yankees and Bosox shrug off an April chill or the Rockies forced to cancel a World Series game because of snow.

And the guys playing in the Central Carolina Scholastic Baseball League may know that better than most. Everyone associated with the growing league says life is just plain better when standing on a grass field in June and July.

“I love it,” East Chapel Hill pitcher James Heine said after a game Thursday. “You can wake up in the morning, not worried about class. Go to the pool, play basketball and then you get to play baseball in the afternoon. A completely stress-free event. It feels like baseball is supposed to feel.”

Started in 2006 by a handful of high school coaches in the south-central Piedmont who wanted to expand their players’ opportunities, the CCSBL has grown from the initial 22 teams to 38 in 2007 and 42 this summer.

Most schools field a junior team for rising freshmen and sophomores, and a senior team for upperclassmen. Games are usually played at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., two or three times a week. If a school lacks lights, like East Chapel Hill, the junior and senior games are played at 4 and 6 p.m. Schools with just a senior team, like Carrboro, usually play at 7 p.m.

While American Legion baseball continues to maintain a strong presence in western and eastern North Carolina, it’s shrunk noticeably in the Piedmont. The CCSBL helps fill that void for prep players and, unlike Legion ball, which allows for post-grad play for 18-year-olds, it’s limited to players who will be eligible for high school play in the upcoming academic year.

“This league is great for letting more guys play,” East Chapel Hill assistant coach Shane Parrish said.

“A lot of kids wouldn’t be able to play in the summer if it weren’t for Summer League. This way, everyone is building better baseball teams,” said Carrboro assistant coach Brian Koltz.

“Being a new school, Carrboro had a pretty tough year starting out for the first time, and the team still has a lot of guys with just one or two years of experience,” he said. “These guys are getting to play a lot more baseball, and that’s good.”

Orange High School coach Dean Dease has fielded teams in Pony League, Babe Ruth and Legion baseball, none of which has lasted in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area.

“We’ve done them all, and the Scholastic Summer League is the best option,” Dease said. “In Legion ball, we’d have a team drawn from just Orange and Cedar Ridge, competing against Raleigh teams drawing from four high schools, all of them bigger than our (2-A) schools. And there’s a lot of travel in Legion ball. Now, our farthest game in Summer League is in Cary.”

The league is divided into six divisions, with the Northwest Division comprising Carrboro, Cedar Ridge, Chapel Hill, East Chapel Hill, Jordan-Matthews and Orange. The regular season continues through mid-July, followed by a 12-team interdivisional playoff and a league championship.

Interspersed in there are a few “showcase” events, where players get to try out for all-star games and the Greater Raleigh Fall Baseball League, all of which are magnets for professional and college scouts.

Everything’s done by Aug. 1, giving the players at least a couple of weeks off before the fall semester starts.

Fuquay-Varina won the first two titles, last summer edging Orange for the championship. Typical of the turnover in the league, Dease has back just one of the five Panthers who earned all-star honors last summer, catcher J.T. Pope.

Not to worry the Panthers, whose varsity won the NCHSAA 2-A state championship in the spring; Pope is just one of the six OHS players off that title team playing this summer, along with Jake Manzulich, Bradon Reitano, Scott Jarvis, Joe Winecoff and Rob Schilke.

Dease relies on those players to help teach the newer members of the junior and senior Summer League teams about what’s expected of them as players. (Like the time they needed to be reminded to stand up and applaud a sacrifice by a teammate who moved two runners into scoring position.) The rest of the time, the coaches get to work with players on technique and strategy.

“It’s a teaching tool,” Dease said. “It’s all about player development and giving kids a chance to play. It’s no different from a seven-on-seven passing league in football or AAU basketball. It helps us as coaches trying to help the kids develop.”

The players agree. Heine wants to work on his pitching mechanics, especially focusing on his weight distribution. East Chapel Hill infielder Daniel Pollitt wants to try different positions; in the Wildcats 3-0 start, he’s already tried outfield, third base and second base, and he hopes to catch a game or two.

“Everyone gets to move around a lot,” he said.

Pollitt is rightfully proud to be part of the first East Chapel Hill baseball and basketball teams to reach the 4-A state playoffs after years of success at the 3-A level. But he said, while closing the varsity regular season with an eight-game win streak was great, “it’s not about winning or losing” in the Summer League.

“It’s about having fun and staying in ‘baseball shape,’” Pollitt said. “Everyone is just more relaxed.”