Knights

By: Dan Allison | Silver Knights media relations

Trying to erase a bizarre loss at Holman the night prior, Nashua had a great opportunity to get the bad taste out of their mouth with a Tuesday doubleheader set with the Starfires. But with a great opportunity in hand to gain some ground on fifth place Westfield, the Knights would only grab one of the two seven-inning matchups with a 6-3 win and 10-1 loss. 

Nashua pieced together a five-run sixth inning to pull away with game one, but Westfield would get their revenge with a nine-run inning in the second matchup. Giving up a nine-run frame for the second time in as many days, the Knights remain treading water in seventh place with a record of 16-29.

Nashua and Westfield would battle on the bump in game one, with both starters dealing early. Stonehill’s Braydon Gray and Sacred Heart’s Nick Kane were locked in early, but both teams would jump on the arms’ mistakes when they could. 

Nashua would score their first run of the ballgame in the third, with the quote-on-quote “Bash Brothers” of Amherst’s Jack McDermott and Eastern Nazarene’s Shane McNamara singling back to back after a leadoff walk from New England’s Luca Giallongo. 

For Westfield, the Starfires took flight with the long ball. In the first, Monmouth’s Jay Bant smoked a home run to put Westfield up 1-0 early. After Nashua tied it in the third, Central Connecticut’s Owen Arias deposited the Starfires’ second homer of the day to make it 2-1. With neither team piecing together a big inning through five in the seven-inning contest, the slim lead looked to be enough for Westfield to ride to the finish.

Needing to produce a run in a hurry, Nashua was finally able to get to Kane with the Westfield starter allowing the first four Knight batters to reach safely. Kane would walk in two runs to give Nashua the lead before RBI knocks from Colby’s Brady O’Brien and Colby Sawyer’s Cam Carignan opened the game up to 6-2. Westfield would add one more in the game (ironically enough on another Bant solo shot) but not enough to top Nashua in the first game of the two-game Tuesday.

After a competitive game in game one, almost the opposite took place in game two. Heading into the fourth with a 1-1 score, the Starfires would explode on the scoreboard for nine runs. Westfield would find Colby’s Thomas Rioux’s number in the fourth frame, giving up six earned runs. Purdue’s Zach Fletcher came in to try and extinguish the red-hot ‘fires but ran into trouble as well with three runs coming across in only a third of an inning.

Sitting in a nine-run hole, the Knights went quietly out in game two as Westfield would salvage the split. Needing to get back in the win column, the Knights will head to Brockton on Wednesday night to try and top the Rox for the third straight meeting. Nashua and Brockton are set for a 6:30 PM first pitch.