Knights

Sunday, August 6, 2023

By: Dan Allison | Silver Knights media relations

On Sunday, the 2023 Silver Knights would take the field for one last time with their season finale taking place at Historic Holman Stadium. With nine innings left in their summer, the Knights did not waste the moment. 

Nashua scored seven runs and battled back from 2-0 and 6-3 deficits, making the most of their last appearances at the plate. Alas, despite the run support, the Silver Knight pitching would have a tough time containing the Lake Monsters as Vermont would pull away for a 9-7 victory.

Combining for one of the higher run totals of the season, Nashua and Vermont would post 27 hits in the 16-run ballgame with five lead changes in the ballgame. 

Every Silver Knight who started the ballgame reached safely, with seven of them posting hits. Colby’s Brady O’Brien led the day with a 4-5, two-RBI appearance in the cleanup spot. Clark’s Ryan Caulfield and New England College’s Luca Giallongo would join O’Brien in the multihit game club, with Giallongo posting a team-leading four RBI. 

Out of the gate, both teams would get active on offense immediately. Vermont would post two runs in the top of the first frame with Nashua responding with three in the bottom half. 

Vermont would try and pull away in the middle innings, scoring two in both the third and fourth innings. In an important ballgame for VT with first place in the FCBL still up for grabs, the Silver Knights would answer back to try and spoil the Monsters’ Sunday. 

With the score at 6-3 VT, Giallongo would gain some ground for Nashua with a two-RBI double in the fourth. In the fifth, the Knights would regain the lead on singles from O’Brien and Eastern Nazarene’s Shane McNamara. 

Nashua would be resilient at the plate, but the same could not be said for the pitching staff. Colby’s Derek Woods, coming off a no-hit bid in Pittsfield, only tossed three frames with four earned runs in his second start. Not much would go right for the bullpen as well, with SNHU’s Parker Lendrum and Zach Gitschier combining for five earned runs in just two and ⅔ innings.

Vermont would pull back in front 9-7, with odds looking less and less in the Silver Knights' favor. As the game headed to the final frames, some of the final-year Silver Knights took a curtain call as they came off the field. 2022 heroes Jack McDermott and Shane McNamara were subbed out to a standing ovation, with long-tenured Nashua arms Zach Gitschier and George Welch getting hugs and handshakes as they made their way off the mound.

Despite the leadoff man getting aboard in the ninth, Nashua would follow it up with a 1-2-3 inning to end the ballgame and fall 9-7. As the kids ran the bases for one final time, the Knights thanked the fans for another fun summer with families and friends taking the field postgame for pictures and goodbyes.

Nashua’s boys of summer will now look forward to 2024, but until then, Historic Holman Stadium will close its gates til next summer.