Knights

Monday, July 31, 2023

By: Dan Allison | Silver Knights media relations

After two tough losses on Sunday in a Vermont doubleheader, the workload would not be getting any easier for the Silver Knights. While the rest of the league enjoyed the usual Monday off-day, Nashua and Pittsfield geared up for a day with everything but rest as the two teams got set for a makeup tripleheader.

While the day seemed daunting, Monday’s gauntlet was a great way for the Knights to rack up some victories. Nashua would answer the call in game two with a 13-0 mercy win, but drop the rest as Pittsfield took the mini-series 8-7 and 5-4.

Despite Pittsfield taking two out of the three, Nashua was a few plays away from sweeping the evening. One-run losses in game one and game three were a real punch in the gut for this Knight squad, with Nashua rallying in the last inning of both games but coming up just short twice.

Game two, however, would be total Silver Knight domination. Nashua punched in 13 runs in just five innings, but the real story for the Knights would be on the other side of the ball. 

Colby’s Derek Woods, making his first appearance of the season for Nashua, tossed five innings of no-hit ball on six strikeouts. 

It wasn’t a full nine-inning no-hitter, but Woods’s debut came when the Knights needed it the most. Before his picture was even uploaded to the league website, he had already posted one of the best outings of the summer. 

On offense, SNHU’s Kyle Lavigne went 2-2 with four RBI in his best game of the summer. Eastern Nazarene’s Shane McNamara added three RBI to the Nashua lineup, pushing him to a league-high 41 RBI in the 13-run performance.

Nashua’s offense would be active in the other games, but come up short when it mattered most. In game one, the Knights would score three in the final inning to make it 8-7 Pittsfield. With the tying run on first, the Suns would cut down pinch runner Nate Lam trying to steal second for the final out. 

In game three, the Knights would find themselves in a similar situation to just hours prior. Back-to-back singles in the seventh and final frame gave Nashua life with the Suns leading 5-4. Both runners would eventually move up to second and third, but back-to-back strikeouts would strand the tying run 90 feet away for the Knights’ second loss of the night.

Nashua came up just short at the plate, but their pitching didn’t help them any either. Game one was a resumption of a postponed matchup where Northeastern’s Michael Gemma allowed four earned in the first two frames, putting the Knights in a hole out of the gate. Game three would start off with a 3-0 Nashua lead, but the Knights would allow a Pittsfield five spot in the fourth to effectively give the Suns the victory.

Now with a rollercoaster of a day in the books, the Knights will look forward to playing their first normal nine-inning ballgame in the last four days on Tuesday. Nashua will head back up to Vermont for their final trip to Centennial Field in 2023. Lake Monsters - Silver Knights is set for a 6:35 PM first pitch Tuesday.