WORCESTER — It’s the home opener for the Worcester Bravehearts as they meet the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field. The public address announcer exhorts the 2,638 fans: “Stamp your feet! Clap your hands! Support your team!’’ On cue, the grandstands erupt with a thunderous rumble.

Spirits run high on this perfect evening in early June. The Bravehearts are reigning champions of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League of New England, and they had bested the Seacoast Mavericks the previous evening at the Mavs’ home opener in Portsmouth, N.H.

Bravehearts pitcher Greg Stagani is a tall fastballer from West Liberty University in Wheeling, W.Vt. He bears down and makes his first pitch on the lower outside corner and ultimately mows down the top of the Dirt Dawgs order. When the Bravehearts come to bat, outfielder and leadoff hitter Chad Miller smacks a triple. The junior from Saint Leo (Florida) University soon scores on a fielder’s choice and the Bravehearts lead, 1-0. Players on both teams harbor dreams of going pro, and they’re hoping that there’s a scout in the stands.

Founded in 2011, the FCBL fields 10 teams throughout New England. Each plays four to five games per week until early August — when the playoffs begin. The schedule guarantees lots of opportunities all across the region for an enjoyable and affordable baseball family night.

Stagani shows good stuff across the first five innings, scattering seven hits, getting six timely strikeouts, and giving up no runs. Except for an ice cream break, 7-year-old Gavin Santiago from Northborough watches his every move.

“We come every year on opening day,’’ explains Gavin’s mother, Mayra Santiago. “This is our third year.’’ Now that Gavin is old enough to play Little League, the games mean even more.

Between innings, youngsters race around the bases with the Bravehearts mascot, Jake the Lion; try to net beanbag bullfrogs; and hop in kiddie cars to crash through a “brick’’ wall (as sponsored by a collision repair garage).

After the Bravehearts win by a score of 3-0, fireworks flash over the old ballpark, built in 1905 and renovated in 2005. Lou Gehrig hit a home run here in 1922 as a Columbia University sophomore playing against Holy Cross. Indeed, many FCBL parks have storied pasts. Pittsfield’s Waconah Park dates from 1919 and still has wooden grandstands. Built in an era of day games, the park faces due west from home plate. Now games sometimes have to pause to let the sun go down. The team is known — appropriately — as the Pittsfield Suns .

The Nashua Silver Knights play in Holman Stadium, which hosted the minor league Nashua Dodgers 1946-1949. The first racially integrated professional baseball team in the country, it was led by catcher Roy Campanella and pitcher Don Newcombe. Lynn’s Fraser Field, built in 1940, is most famous for players who appeared for just a few games — Josh Gibson and Jimmie Foxx in the twilight of their careers and future Red Sox star Tony Conigliaro as a high school slugger and pitcher.

These days Fraser Field is home of the FCBL North Shore Navigators, and the place was electric on opening night, also in early June, as the Navs faced the Seacoast Mavericks. Catching for the home team was Kyle Devin of Lynn, a junior at the University of Rhode Island. (League rules require each team to carry 10 players who either come from the area or attend New England colleges.) He had his own rooting section, including his younger brother Brandon.

Judging by the jerseys and hats on the near-record crowd of 3,523, the Navigators have a solid fan base. Some things are tradition. The mid-game Lazy Dog Kids Run lets the small fry get their yah-yahs out by running en masse across the outfield. Friday nights feature fireworks after the game, win or lose. The park is also famous as “the home of the dollar hotdog’’ — locally owned Old Neighborhood franks. During the seventh inning stretch, adults set down their hot dogs and star-spangled beer cans for a full-throated rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.’’

Alas for Lynn, it was the Mavericks’ night. But baseball is an epic battle with a long season. There’s always the next game, when a soft summer night beckons the crowd to the park, the boys of summer play their hearts out, and somewhere in the stands, a pro scout jots down a young man’s name and the notation GFGH (good field, good hit). There’s a reason it’s called a “futures’’ league.

Patricia Harris and David Lyon can be reached at harrislyon@gmail.com.