The Silver Knights returned to Holman Stadium this afternoon for a doubleheader against the Westfield Starfires, who are currently sitting at the bottom of the Futures League standings. With a chance to capitalize at home, Nashua looked to repeat their recent doubleheader success and secure two crucial wins in front of the home crowd.
The Knights would demolish the Starfires in game one as they would use their bats on the way to an 11-4 victory in game one.
The Knights started this game out fast as Tommy Flaherty pitched a scoreless first and the offense got going right away. The Knights started the bottom half of the inning with a walk and would keep going following that. Jake Hardee later in the inning would drive in Patrick Shrake on a single drive in the game’s first run. Following Haarde, Jack Balcer would put a ball in the air to center field for a sac fly to score the Knights’ second run of the inning.
The Knights and Flaherty would keep going as in the second the pitching and offense were both on fire as Flaherty started with another shutdown inning. The offense then pulled through again in the bottom half of the inning as Cole Patterson would drive in a run and Shrake would drive in two more on a single. The Knights were not done in the frame as they would tack on one more to make it 6-0 on another Haarde single.
It would not however be all perfect for the Knights as in the third Flaherty would get into some real trouble. He would let up four runs in the inning in total as the Starfires would get back into the ballgame. The Knights’ offense however would respond as they backed their pitcher.
In the 5th the Knights added on for three more with two runs coming off the bat of Ryan Starand and one coming again off the bat of Shrake to give the Knights a 9-4 lead going into the 6th inning.
From there the Knights would tack on two more in the second as they rolled to an 11-4 victory in the 7-inning game. The bullpen was in Hunter Ward and Robby Roth following Falherty as they held the Starfires scoreless. Shrake, Haarde, and Strand all led the team offensively as they each drove in three runs in the win.
