Knights

Friday, June 16, 2023

By: Dan Allison | Silver Knights media relations

Less than 24 hours removed from their drama-filled victory versus Brockton, the Silver Knights rode high into western Massachusetts as they looked to keep the momentum going against the Starfires. But momentum aside, Nashua was quickly shot down by Starfire pitching in a low-scoring battle that would fall in Westfield’s favor. An eighth-inning solo shot was the difference, breaking the 1-1 tie in what would turn into Nashua’s 16th loss of the season.

A Silver Knight offensive that was once on fire, posting five or more runs in their last two games, quickly fell back into their old ways. A quiet, three-hit night hurt Nashua’s chances on Friday as they left 11 men on base in the one-run loss. 

Lacking at the plate, the Knights picked up the slack on the bump. A Nashua staff that showed out in Thursday’s comeback win kept rolling, allowing two or fewer runs for the third time this season. Colby’s Thomas Rioux headlined the big day from the Knights’ arms, throwing his best outing in a Silver Knight uniform. Rioux only gave up one hit with six strikeouts, tossing five scoreless innings.

As both teams were stifled in the batter's box, it became clear that the first team to push across a run might come away victorious. In the bottom of the sixth, Rutgers’s Isaiah Pinkney broke the scoreless tie with an RBI single for Westfield. Now heading to the seventh with a stone-cold offense, the Knights were running out of time. 

Nashua, similar to the night prior, was searching for that one clutch hit to knot this one back up. Luckily for them, St. Thomas Aquinas’s Nick O’Connor answered the call for the second straight night. After a walk and a hit by a pitch in the eighth, O’Connor answered Westfield’s RBI single with one of his own to tie the contest back up at one.

O’Connor and the Knights looked for some more late-game magic to pull this one out, but the Starfires had other ideas. Right after the tie, Alfred State’s Nick Serce smoked a solo home run to silence any form of a Nashua rally. That blast marks three home runs in the last four games for Serce, as Nashua was now down to their last three outs to try and tie.

Nashua was not able to pull off a ninth-inning comeback for the second straight night, falling 2-1. Westfield is now 2-0 against the Knights this season, as Nashua remains in the basement of the FCBL at 4-16.

Opening up on the road with a loss, Nashua will finish their two-game trip with the Bees. New Britain is set to host the Knights for a 6:35 PM first pitch on Saturday.