Knights

Friday, July 12, 2024

By: Dan Allison | Silver Knights media relations

Another night of opportunity ended in tough fashion once again for the Silver Knights, falling to the Lake Monsters 10-7 for their second straight loss against VT. Nashua, needing to get a leg up on a Vermont team that sits in front of them in the standings, battled early in a back-and-forth affair before the Lake Monsters pulled out another late-game offensive barrage.

Thursday night’s 10-1 loss in what was once a ballgame Nashua led left the Knights with a sour taste in their mouths, but hopes were still high with the weekend ahead. It was a new day, a new game, and a new venue for Friday’s matchup with the four-game set relocating to Burlington, VT, and Centennial Field for the next three. 

Nashua and Vermont once again went toe-to-toe through the early innings, with the contest having two lead changes through three innings. On the mound, It was Colby’s Derek Woods getting the start with his college teammate Tom Rioux following him for Nashua out of the gates. 

Woods delivered five strikeouts through two and ⅔ innings, but the Lake Monsters did plate three for an early advantage. Rioux, who has grown into the long relief role, shined with two and ⅔ frames with no earned runs despite five hits.

Wake Forest’s Brody Shawn gave Nashua’s hitters fits in his start, but walks and self-inflicted errors costed him. While not allowing a hit, Shawn allowed two earned runs via three walks along with wild pitches in his three innings of work.

Nashua also struggled with their own mistakes, with both teams battling it out each half-inning. Vermont took back the lead from the Knights in the third and broke a tie in the fifth, as the Knights needed someone to step up heading to the later stages. 

Enter: Brady O’Brien

O’Brien, the Silver Knight returnee and Richmond Spider, led the charge on a night where the Nashua 1-4 hitters did not. O’Brien tied up the ballgame on both occasions with two RBI singles in a 3-4, 4 RBI night for the third baseman. 

4-4 heading into the eighth, the Knights wanted to cap off a “revenge” win following the loss at Holman. In the top of the frame, two walks along with two quick outs left Endicott’s James Benestad to make something of the inning with ducks on the pond. Benestad, on a two-game hitting streak, picked a good time to extend it to three games with a single to load the bases.

Siena’s Jeff Valdez entered the box next in the big spot. Valdez worked a lengthy at-bat off Babson Two-Way Zander Teator, but a great pitch on a full count got him swinging to strand the chance.

Penn State’s Will Perkowski delivered in the sixth and seventh, but an inning-opening error followed by a single and a walk brought the pressure into the eighth. Perkowski got two outs in the inning, but leave the ballgame with the bases loaded with Wake Forest’s Andrew Koshy coming in to try and evade the jam.

Despite Koshy’s hot tear as of late, Nashua’s tough luck struck again with Koshy’s first pitch catching a piece of Harvard’s Jack Rickheim to bring in a run and make it 5-4. Rickheim’s unlucky free pass unhitched the wheels from the wagon for the Knights, with errors and walks allowing the inning to spiral into a six-spot for a 10-4 VT lead.

Three runs in the ninth from Nashua enticed the possibility of a miraculous comeback, but the lineup ran out of time to stage six runs as they fell to 18-23 on the season.

Back-to-back heartbreakers halt a Knights team that entered the week on fire, as they look to get back to that prior form with still two to go in Vermont. Wins on Saturday and Sunday could still bring Nashua to 4-2 on the week before returning home, as they look forward to Saturday’s 6:35 PM first pitch at Centennial Field.