Knights

Photo: Kailey Lane/Nashua Silver Knights

Just two short days ago, the Pittsfield Suns walked out of Historic Holman Stadium with a victory in a seven inning beatdown of the Silver Knights. Pittsfield’s 12-1 mercy rule win gave them their third straight against Nashua, turning the tables on the Knights after Nashua took their first six meetings.

Saturday’s game marked the last road game of the regular season for the Knights, heading to Wahconah Park for one final time in 2022 with the Suns eliminated from postseason contention. With Nashua’s ticket already punched to the playoffs, they could have easily waved the white flag from the jump and saved their energy for next week. But with last week’s wounds still clearly fresh, the Knights got their vengeance.

Nashua won 13-2 on Saturday in mercy rule fashion, giving them their second mercy rule win in the last week. An offense that went missing in action in the last couple games returned to duty, with UMass’ Will MacLean taking center stage as his two homer, five RBI night accelerated the Knights to the finish line.

Fordham’s Aric Berg got the start for Pittsfield, with Nashua wasting no time getting to him. Two free bases on a walk and a dropped third strike set up the Knights to do damage in the first. Vanderbilt’s Ray Velazquez and Eastern Nazarene’s Shane McNamara capitalized, both posting RBIs on a single and a double. After MacLean joined the party in the second with his first homer of the night, the Knights turned up the gas in the third with a five-run frame.

RBI doubles by McNamara and Velazquez gave them a combined four RBIs on the night, becoming a deadly duo in the four and five slot of the lineup. Colby’s Pat McConnell and Assumption’s Nico Galeazzi also joined the double party, getting their first RBIs of the night. MacLean, following his solo blast in the second, kept on adding with an RBI single in the third. Berg would come out of the game after just two and ⅓ as Nashua held an 8-1 lead.

Already out to a big lead, the Knight offense was not done. A four-run fourth pushed Pittsfield into mercy rule territory, with Nashua’s hottest bats in McNamara and MacLean once again contributing. McNamara would post another RBI base knock, giving him three RBIs on a four-hit night. McNamara, now sitting at second on the team in RBIs with 25, would have taken player of the game honors but MacLean had other ideas. After McNamara’s single, MacLean deposited his second homer of the night over the Wahconah Park wall.

MacLean’s blast was a three-run jack, pushing the score to 12-1. Now with a lead to send them home early, it was up to Nashua’s arms to seal the deal. Fitchburg State’s LT Pare went a strong four frames to start, only giving up one run. Worcester State’s Jarret Morrill would strike out three in his one-run relief outing, going two innings to set up Assumption’s Alex Meesig for the early closing duties. Meesig got three quick outs, ending the game after just seven innings.

Nashua would take their 33th win of the season with a score of 13-2, getting some much needed revenge on Pittsfield. Now with no more “Sun Delays” to worry about, the Knights will head home for their last game of the regular season with the Worcester Bravehearts coming to town. First pitch on Sunday is scheduled for 3:00 PM.