Knights

(Nashua, NH): Offense was scarce on Saturday night at Holman Stadium, but the Silver Knights found just enough of it to pull out a 3-2 win against the surging New Britain Bees. Nashua remains in second place (18-11) via their tiebreaker with Worcester (17-10), after the Hearts lost against Brockton 8-0 in their regionally-televised NESN game. 

The Knights got on the board in the 4th, when Luke Beckstein (Kansas State) took a 2-1 pitch over the retired Dodgers’ numbers in left field for his first home run of the season. New Britain would answer in the 5th, getting their first run off Pat Harrington (Assumption). Matt Donlan (Stonehill) would walk to open the inning, eventually make it to 3rd, then score on a wild pitch by Harrington. In the 6th, the Bees took a 2-1 lead, when Griffin Arnone (Elon) went to right field for a solo home run with one out.

Nashua would tie the score in the seventh. Beckstein, who was 2-2 with 2BB and 3R, walked and scored on a Nick Shumski SAC fly to left field. Fast forward to the ninth and none other than Luke Beckstein was right in the middle of the action. He led off the inning with his second walk, on 4 pitches. Talbot would strike out Lucas Stalman (Boston College) before Troy Schreffler Jr. (Maryland) came to bat. After the 0-1 pitch, the catcher Donlan attempted to back-pick Beckstein and the throw got away from first baseman Noah Martinez (CCSU), allowing Beckstein to move into scoring position. Schreffler would strike out, bringing up Nick Shumski (Merrimack). He would take an 0-1 pitch on a line to the left field wall for a walk-off single, his second walk-off of the season and first hit of the game, giving the Knights a 3-2 win. 

Both starting pitchers were very effective on Saturday, neither getting a decision. Alex Price (Middlebury) turned in one of his best starts of the summer, giving up 2ER on 5H, 4BB, and 5K in 6.1 innings for New Britain. Harrington was very efficient, throwing just 83 pitches in 7.1 innings of work. He gave up 2ER on 5H, 2BB, and 4K. He is now ranked seventh in ERA (3.13). Steven Miller (Penn State) picked up the win for Nashua, as he pitched the ninth inning, walking one and striking out 2. Ben Talbot (Holy Cross) took the loss for the Bees, giving up the Shumski single and the unearned winning run, also striking out 2 in the ninth. 

Nashua improves to 18-11 with 10 games remaining. They are 4.5 games ahead of Brockton for the second playoff spot, whom they host on Sunday afternoon at 3PM. The Knights will finish their 4-game homestand Monday against the Navigators at 6PM. Subscribe to the FCBL Network and catch all Knights game action, plus every game throughout the league, by visiting FCBLNetwork.com.