Knights

Thursday, July 11, 2024

By: Dan Allison | Silver Knights media relations

In a week where seemingly everything was going right for Nashua, the Silver Knights were brought to a halt by the Vermont Lake Monsters in a 10-1 Thursday loss at Holman. An evening that started as a back-and-forth duel that included Nashua holding a 1-0 lead, quickly went south with the Knights falling to 18-22.

Pace’s Vinny Civitella took the bump for Nashua, making his seventh start in a matchup versus Vermont’s ace in Central CT’s Wyatt Cameron. Cameron delivered again for Vermont early, but Civitella followed Cameron’s pace as the two both threw three hitless innings to open the ballgame.

There were no signs of either arm slowing down until SNHU’s Shane McNamara stepped into the box to lead off the bottom of the fourth. On the second pitch he saw, Shane scorched a ball to deep center field that bounced off the advertisements next to the batter's eye. Nashua’s four-year vet cracked Cameron’s code, with the first hit of Nashua’s day coming with a bang.

While the momentum was on Nashua’s side entering the backend of the ballgame, the Silver Knights found themselves on the other side of the tracks soon after. Civitella, through four and ⅔ innings, was one out away from a clean five with his season high in five strikeouts next to his name. 

Alas, Civitella walked Kansas Wesleyan’s Tyler Favretto after an error to put runners on first and second. AIC’s Anderson Cuello Batista came in following Civitella’s walk, delivering two quick strikes to Cornell’s Mark Quatrani. Nashua was once again on the cusp of keeping their 1-0 lead intact, but a back-breaking ground ball that snuck through the infield tied it up in what was the first of many unlucky bounces for the Knights.

Vermont got two more off Batista in the frame, pulling out to a 3-1 lead after entering the inning with a runner not even reaching second base. VT added another in the sixth, and a massive four-run inning of the Nashua bullpen in the seventh flipped the game completely upside down.

Feeling stunned, the Knights were unable to add any more to the run column as Vermont tacked on three more in the contest. Nashua fell 10-1 in a deflating loss after one of their hottest runs of the season. 

Despite the tough loss, Nashua still sits in front of a plethora of opportunities to climb into the playoff hunt. Heading up to Vermont for a road meeting on Friday, the Knights will open up a three-game set at Centennial Field with the six and five seeds in the Futures League set to duke it out up north.

First pitch between the Silver Knights and the Lake Monsters is set for a 6:35 PM first pitch on Friday night.