Knights

Saturday, July 15, 2023

By: Dan Allison | Silver Knights media relations

After back-to-back rainouts on Thursday and Friday, the Silver Knights looked to get in a full nine innings for the first time since their victory at Holman in the middle of the week. Now heading into a Saturday meeting with the Rox, the two teams wouldn’t waste the clear forecast with a full nine-round offensive boxing match. 

Both teams would exchange offensive outpours in this one, including Brockton scoring six unanswered after Nashua went up 5-1 early. Despite the Rox run, the Knights would finally respond with a four-run eighth to escape Massachusetts with a high scoring 10-7 victory. 

In Nashua’s latest stretch of games, Eastern Nazarene’s Shane McNamara and Amherst’s Jack McDermott both headlined games against Vermont, with McNamara posting five RBI on the 11th and McDermott tallying four on the seventh. Both on Saturday in Brockton, the two would share the spotlight.

Out of the one and two spots in the lineup, McDermott and McNamara combined for five RBIs on a five-for-nine night. A majority of the 2022 champion teammates’ stat line came from the Knights’ big eighth inning, with McDermott singling ahead of a game-altering three-run blast from McNamara.

Nashua stormed back in heroic fashion, but the Knights weren’t always in comeback mode in their 11th meeting of the season with Brockton. In fact, it was Nashua who was in the driver's seat early with five runs in the first three frames.

Saturday’s early innings had Mount Saint Mary’s Shane Wockley’s name written all over them, with an RBI single in the first and an RBI double in the third. Nashua would bring three more across on several Brockton passed balls and an RBI single from Lafeyette’s Teddy Cashman.

Similar to their last matchup, the Knights looked to run away on the scoreboard with another win over the Rox. But this time around, Brockton had a change of plans. After a 5-1 Nashua lead, the Rox would post a two-run fifth and fourth-run sixth to take the lead 7-5. 

Vanderbilt Freshman and Knight starter Nik Copenhaver pitched well before getting into trouble in the fifth, with Northeastern’s Ryan Griffin only lasting a third of a frame with two earned runs in his relief. Brockton stormed back in what seemed to be shaping up as another brutal Nashua loss.

Yet, even with a silent seventh after the Brockton barrage, Nashua was able to reignite their offense with three straight Knights reaching to open the frame. McNamara would step in with two men on later in the frame, and the rest was history.

McNamara’s dead center, 400 feet, fifth homer of the summer lifted the Knights to their third straight victory in their first full game in three days. Looking to move the streak to four, Nashua will head to Connecticut on Sunday to face off with the fourth-place Bees.

New Britain and the Knights are set for a 1:35 PM first pitch on Sunday afternoon.