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Good news: No sale

By Staff | Nov 18, 2016

It’s status quo as far as the ownership of the Nashua Silver Knights is concerned.

Holman Stadium was the site of the annual Futures Collegiate Baseball League Meetings on Nov. 10, and Commissioner Chris Hall said that he expects Drew Weber to still be the owner when the 2017 season begins.

"As of right now I would say yes," Hall said. "Drew is loving the team, the team had a great year, not just winning, but overall. He’s still involved in the game, and he loves (General Manager Ronnie (Wallace) and (Assistant GM) Cheryl (Lindner).

"And the fact the community supports the team is a big thing, too."

Weber, who sold the Red Sox-affiliated Class A Lowell Spinners last year, was close to a deal to sell the Silver Knights in July, but decided to nix it and keep the team instead.

The Silver Knights went on to not only win the 2016 FCBL title but have one of its most profitable years.

"As far as we know, Drew’s happy, and he’s given us the go-ahead to do things," Wallace said. "We’re going to put some money into our kids area. We had lunch with him and told him all the things we felt we needed to get better, and he said go ahead."

Put it on the board

Wallace said that the team is close to finalizing its choice for a proposed new scoreboard type for Holman Stadium and could begin going through the city approval process in December.

He reserved comment on the type, cost and financing details until he begins official talks with the city next month, but he did tell The Telegraph in September that it was possible the team’s lease payments would be earmarked for the purchase.

"We have what we think we’re going to go with and we have to go through the approval with a couple of governing bodies," Wallace said last week. "It’s something we’re excited about, if it goes into place, which we’re 90 percent sure it’s going to, our fan experience will be much better than it’s been."

Meanwhile, Holman has been undergoing some renovations this fall, with the visitors dugout being redone similar to how the home side was refurbished last spring. Also, the lower level of the outfield wall has been replaced and the warning track stripped, with, according to Wallace, red stone dust replacing it.

"Mayor (Jim) Donchess and the city of Nashua has been great to us," Wallace said. "Our relationship continues to grow every year. It’s self-apparent. It’s happening, it’s visual, you can see it.

"The place is almost 80 years old, it needs to be kept up, and Mayor Donchess recognizes the gem that Holman Stadium is, and he wants to make sure that not only is it suitable for the city of Nashua, but continues to be the best facility in the league. He’s said that."

Delay in finalizing 2017 schedule

Hall said the 2017 schedule should come out sometime early in December, which would be about a month later than a year ago. The FCBL will continue to have two divisions, with six teams making the playoffs and a bye for the division winners while the other four play in one-game play-in games.

But how many teams will there be? That is what is possibly holding things up. Hall hinted that the league could either expand beyond 10, or even cut down to nine – and league sources say the latter is the more likely scenario. It seems one franchise could be contracted, or at the very least, moved, and that clearly must be the reason the schedule isn’t out yet.

"There’s a chance we could be at nine," Hall said. "Or a chance we could be at 10 or 11."

The three bottom teams in attendance this past season were Torrington (393 nightly average in Connecticut), Seacoast (310 in Portsmouth) and Wachusett (229 in Leominster, Mass.).

"We realize some communities aren’t working," Hall said. "A couple of years ago Old Orchard Beach wasn’t working and we were able to move it to Bristol (Conn.).

"There’s another location we’re working on right now but we’re not sure we can do something like that (a move) with them. So we may have to go dark with one (team) for a year."

Education Day is a lock

Although the schedule hasn’t been released yet, the Silver Knights have known for a couple of weeks they will hold their annual Education Day Game on Tuesday, June 6 at 11 a.m. It’s usually one of the more well attended games of the season, used as a field trip day for students from area schools.

Also, the team announced it has its flex ticket packs available for purchase. Fans get seven tickets to use for any games in any combination (all seven for one, one each for seven games, etc.).

Ring raffle later this month

The Silver Knights are holding a championship ring raffle. Two rings will be raffled off with the drawing set for Nov. 30 at 1 p.m., with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Nashua Police Athletic League (PAL).

The two winners will also receive 10 suite tickets each and will be able to share a suite on Opening Night in June, as well as be presented with the rings on the field, along with the rest of the 2016 players, as part of the pre-game Ring Ceremony.

Fans can also purchase a ring for themselves. For more information, call the team at 718-8883.

Notes

– The Silver Knights will be setting up an on-line store for gifts/apparel, hoping to have it ready by Cyber Monday.

– The Silver Knights have put out the early call seeking interns and host families for the 2017 season.

– Three members of the Silver Knights’ championship roster – reliever Jake Nelson, outfielder Dante Baldelli and catcher Mickey Gasper (of Merrimack) were named top prospects from the Futures League by Perfect Game.

– Bedford’s Sean and Connor Lyons, key components of the Silver Knights title team rosters of 2011-12, were inducted earlier this month into the New Hampshire Catholic High Schools Hall of Fame. They played their high school ball at Trinity High School in Manchester.

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