The Knight bus hit the road again as they traveled to Westfield to play their 50th game of the season and their second game on a season-long road trip. Coming into the game, the Knights were on an eight-game losing streak as they hoped to change the tide and get back in the win column.
Nashua’s team put up another valiant effort against the Westfield Starfires, but their struggles continued as the Knights dropped their ninth straight game. Despite showing flashes of fight, Nashua couldn’t keep pace, ultimately falling 14–7 as Westfield’s offense proved too much to handle.
The Knights would start this game off slow offensively and defensively as the Starfires went to work early on both sides of the ball. For their offense, they would get going in the second inning versus Ethan Hunt of the Knights. In the 2nd, it was Josh Frometta who would get his team on the board as he launched a two-run home run over the fence. This would mark the end of the day for Hunt as he logged just two innings on the day. In the following frame with the bullpen in, they would keep it coming as Anthony Ruggerio would blast the team’s second home run of the game with a solo fly.
Westfield starter Brenden Murphy was also great to start this game as he would throw a scoreless first three innings, holding the Knights’ offense at bay. He would run into some trouble, however, in the 4th as the Knights got things going with the bats. It would be Patrick Shrake and Joey Current who would draw aboard for the Knights to get some traffic on the bases. Then Cole Patterson would drive in the team’s first run of the ballgame on an RBI single to cut the deficit to two. Nashua would keep it coming following Patterson as Joe Zorc and Jack Kidwell would both drive in a run to tie this ballgame up at three and give them a clean slate.
This tie would be short lived, however, as the Westfield offense would be back to work in the bottom half of the 4th. This time, the Starfires would grab their runs by keeping the ball in the park, as Ben Williams would drive in two runs on singles as Westfield pushed ahead again. They would pull ahead even more in the 5th as they pushed their lead to three as the Knights’ bullpen walked in a run with the bases loaded.
Nashua would respond, however, to the Westfield offense as they were able to score two runs in the frame. One would come on a passed ball, where Patterson would use his legs to score from third, cutting the deficit to just two. The Knights would get their final run of the inning as they cut the lead to one on a Jake Haarde RBI putout.
Pitching for the Knights would hold in the 6th inning as Kyan Bagshaw was able to toss the team’s first scoreless frame since the first inning. However, following Bagshaw’s exit from the game, it would get rough for Nashua real fast. In the 7th, the Starfires’ offense exploded, breaking the game wide open.
They would rattle off eight runs in the inning as they started with a bases-loaded wild pitch, and they would score their first run of the inning. Cooper Tarantino would then walk to reload the bases for Westfield. There would be three runs that were scored in the inning by a free pass, as two out of those three runs would score on a walk and another by a hit batter. Ruggerio would knock in their 5th run of the inning, and Griffin Enis would drive in another on a single to left. Then the capo of the inning would double to drive in two and complete a massive inning for the Starfires. In the frame, they would score their eight runs with seven different batters at the plate.
Nashua, however, would put some intrigue in this game as they battled back in the eighth to put two more runs up on the board. Patterson would score his second run of the game using his legs on a wild pitch. Haarde would drive in the second run of the frame on a sacrifice fly. This, however, would be all that Nashua could muster as they fell 14-7 on the road. They will be back at it tomorrow at New Britain as they look to avoid ten straight losses.
