Knights

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

By: Dan Allison | Silver Knights media relations

Back-to-back losses following an energetic second win of the season for the Silver Knights had Nashua’s boys of summer back to feeling stuck in the mud. Losses to Brockton and Norwich over the weekend had Kyle Jackson and Co. ready to start a new week with a Tuesday road trip to Vermont. 

Despite some improved offense at the plate, the Silver Knights came up short in their battle against the Lake Monsters (and Mother Nature.)

Nashua headed three hours north for the first time in 2023, with their last trip ending in bringing home the FCBL trophy. After going 7-8 against VT last season, the two premier franchises of the Futures League prepared for another year of back-and-forth duels.

While Nashua’s offense looked to take form, the Knights achieved something that had missing games prior: production from the heart of the lineup. After the one through four hitters went 4-33 in their last two games, Eastern Nazarene’s Shane McNamara and Vanderbilt’s Camden Kozeal changed the narrative with a pair of two RBI doubles from three and four holes. 

McNamara and Kozeal’s table was set by a single from St Thomas Aquinas’s Nick O’Connor and a walk from New England’s Luca Giallongo to start the third. In just three innings, Nashua had one of their biggest leads of the season.

Nichols’s Brandon Metivier got the start for Nashua, his third of the year. Metivier, looking for his second win of the season, pitched three strong frames before things started to unravel in the fourth. Vermont’s Logan Keller would lead off with a triple, eventually coming in to score as the Knights loaded the bases. Brown’s Stiles Begnaud came in to try and clean up the mess, yet couldn’t tap into the stuff he had going in his scoreless outing against Brockton on Saturday.  

Control became a problem for Begnaud, bringing in a few on walks and wild pitches. In the blink of an eye, the Knights lead was gone with the Monsters tying it up at four. Endicott’s Kyan Bagshaw made his first debut in relief for Stiles, getting the Knights out of the inning but not before an Eduardo Diaz RBI single gave Vermont their first lead of the night.

Even after a tough five spot in the fourth, the Knights still had plenty of baseball left to come back from the one-run lead. At least that was the plan until the sky opened up once again in northeast Vermont.

Storms crowded the area all day, with a rain delay pushing the original first pitch time back. In the sixth inning, the rain piled on and officials had to call it. With the game having five innings under its belt, that was enough to declare it an official game and hand Nashua an abbreviated loss.

Following a tough break for the Knights in this shortened contest, Nashua will look to rewrite the script tomorrow against Worcester. Nashua and the Bravehearts are set for an early morning 10:30 AM first pitch at Hanover Insurance Park.