Knights

Photo: John Corneau

Stringing together two straight wins, the Silver Knights quickly turned a prolonged losing streak into potentially a pivotal winning streak to help them in the FCBL standings. Earning their third win in a row would not come easy, as Nashua would have to head to Westfield, MA to take on the pesty Starfires. In a rain shortened night, Nashua’s offense would shine in a 6-3 victory.

Nichol’s Sean Ryan got the start for Nashua with Western New England’s Kevin Hummer opposing him for the Starfires. Westfield, who is 2-1 against the Knights so far this season, have dominated in their two wins. Westfield outscored Nashua 24-8 in those two games with the Knights taking one of the matchups 8-2.

Despite the high scoring tendency when these two teams meet, both teams couldn’t get their offense going in the first three frames. Ryan was solid through three innings until a Silver Knights error opened up the bottom of the fourth ahead of Long Island’s Jack Power’s at bat. With the Westfield runner taking second on a passed ball, Power surged the Starfires ahead with an RBI double to make it 1-0.

With no outs in the inning, Ryan’s night came to an early close with Eastern Connecticut’s Nolan Lincoln taking over on the mound. Trying to keep the line moving, Louisiana Lafayette’s Caleb Stelly singled to move Power to third with still no outs in the inning. Just about anything would bring a second Westfield runner home, as a 6-3 groundout brought around Power to make it 2-0.

Lincoln got the Knights out of the fourth after the two runs with Nashua looking to answer fast. Holy Cross’ Jack Toomey would lead off the top of the fifth with a single. After a double play cancelled out Toomey‘s single, Northeastern’s Greg Bozzo and Niagara’s Brady Desjardins both drew walks to prime the bases for Northeastern’s Carmelo Musacchia.

“Melo” has impressed in his first week as a Silver Knight, posting hits in every single game he has appeared in. Now in a big spot, Musacchia looked to stay cooking. Melo singled to center to bring home his Northeastern teammate in Bozzo to cut the lead to one.

Nashua couldn’t bring home Desjardins or Musacchia after Melo’s RBI to leave the score at 2-1. Lincoln pitched an easy bottom half to get the Knights back up in the sixth, still hungry for more.

Boston College’s Kyle Wolff would get aboard on a single ahead of Jack Toomey, looking for his second hit of the night. After Toomey was left out to dry on a double play after his single in the fifth, the Holy Cross freshman would ensure Wolff would not receive the same treatment. Toomey cranked his first homer of the season to take the lead for Nashua 3-2. After the top of the sixth, the Knights found themselves with their first lead of the ballgame.

Lincoln continued to execute for the Silver Knights, making quick work of the Starfires in the bottom of the sixth. After scoring in the fifth and sixth, Nashua still had punches to deliver as the game reached the seventh.

Things started off for the red and black with a double from Wake Forest’s Chris Katz. After Katz made his way to third on a groundout, Kyle Wolff notched his third hit of the night to bring Katz home to score.

After Wolff helped make it 4-2 Nashua, the red-hot Jack Toomey stepped into the batter's box. In his first at-bat since his go-ahead home run, Toomey scorched an RBI triple to bring home Wolff for his third RBI of the night. Toomey would later come home on a passed ball, giving Nashua a sizable 6-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Lincoln would come back out for the seventh, looking to get through four innings of relief. Nolan got through the first two outs but couldn’t finish the job and let a Westfield run score. Plymouth State’s Noah Wachter would come in and finish the inning for the Knights to end the seventh.

Rain in the forecast would bring the ballgame to a halt. By completing seven full innings, the game was recognized as an official game and Nashua was awarded the victory 6-3.

Nashua has now won three games in a row with back-to-back road victories. A big night for the offense helped the Knights take the W, including Jack Toomey who racked up three RBIs and came a double short of the cycle. Toomey took home the Player of the game honors for the win.

Nashua will return home after their short two game road stint, taking on the Pittsfield Suns with a special Father’s Day 3:00 PM first pitch. For Westfield, the Starfires will spend their Sunday in Brockton, MA as they take on the Rox at 1:30 PM.