Knights

Long homestand ends with 8-4 loss

Mark Colley

At the start of the Nashua Silver Knights’ long seven-game homestand at Holman Stadium, it appeared to be a blessing — the team would have an opportunity to play consistently at home after three rainouts on the road.

After Wednesday night’s 8-4 loss to the Norwich Sea Unicorns, the Silver Knights were happy to leave.

“They settled into a comfort zone,” manager Kyle Jackson said. “It’ll be nice to go to another place and kind of reboot.”

Nashua shortstop Jack Penney, who scored the first run of the ballgame for the Silver Knights with a single in the first inning, said the team hasn’t had as much of an opportunity to bond as they would on the road.

“In the home games, we don't really get to talk to each other that much, other than [batting practice,” Penney said. “On the bus and before the game, I think we’re a little closer on the road. It’ll be good to get back together and hopefully get another win.”

Nashua starter Matt Poff gave up four earned runs and failed to escape the second inning on Wednesday, but the Silver Knights offense clawed its way back in the middle innings and made it a 6-4 ballgame.

The Sea Unicorns’ seventh inning, when they scored two runs off reliever LT Pare, put the nail in the coffin of Nashua’s comeback. Even coming off back-to-back off-days, Jackson said the bullpen took a toll and will be looking to get some rest over the next two days.

On Thursday and Friday, Nashua will play back-to-back doubleheaders — four seven-inning games in two days.

“If we get five innings out of the starters every game over the next four games, I’ll be happy,” Jackson said. “They all want to be out there, they all want to pitch. That’s the biggest thing.”

Nashua scored all four of their runs in different innings, failing to capitalize on opportunities with runners in scoring position. While part of the issue was the length of the lineup — the bottom six hitters combined for only two hits, compared to six hits for the top three hitters — Penney said the consistency of scoring is a positive.

“It says a lot about our team, our lineup,” Penney said. “I actually like being able to chip away and score in the later innings, so I thought it was pretty good. Just got to get a little bit better defensively.”

The top-three combination of Kyle Hannon, Kevin Skagerlind and Penney only recorded six outs over the course of the game. The trio often didn’t come around to score but set the stage for a potential bottom-of-the-lineup outburst.

“If they’re getting on base consistently, it puts me in a good position to put some more runs on board,” Penney said. “If they get on base, there’s less outs in the inning, so it’s less pressure [on me] and it puts more pressure on the defense.”

The Silver Knights are on the road Thursday and Friday against the Pittsfield Suns and Westfield Starfires before returning home against the Sea Unicorns on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 pm