Here’s a few tids and bits from the first weekend of Silver Knights baseball at Holman Stadium:

—- Get used to seeing something at Silver Knights games we don’t usually see: Radar guns and clipboards. With the Futures League being the only summer collegiate baseball league being played in New England, the scouts who normally would be down at the Cape or at the NECBL will be watching this league.

“That’s probably going to be the norm,” FCBL Commissioner Joe Paolucci said the other night as he was in town for the Nashua-Brockton game. “We’re the only show in town, and we have a ton of really good talent this year. We’ve been working closely with the New England area scouts to keep them informed as to who’s pitching, etc. in our schedule. It’s going to be the norm for the summer.”

—- Great gesture by the Silver Knights to have a moment of silence prior to the start of the opener for the late Bob Bates, a.k.a. The Voice of Nashua, who passed away recently. A devout Silver Knights season ticket holder, it just hasn’t been the same at Holman without seeing that grin as he would mingle before games.

—- Paolucci said the league had basically a do or die date of July 15 to play. The owners’ patience paid off.

“That was our approach from the beginning,” he said. “Just kind of wait this out and see where we were. We kind of had a drop dead date of July 15, meaning if we couldn’t play by then we probably couldn’t do it. That wasn’t the case. … To be honest, I was confident we were going to be able to play. Following, particularly in Massachussetts with (Governer Charles) Baker’s re-opening phases, it looked like it was going to work out for us. We just kind of stayed the course.”

Paolucci said another factor was the league, after the Cape shut down, shifted to try to sign as many local-regional players as it could. The Cape’s 99 percent dependence on host families led to its decision, he felt.

— Highlight of the weekend in these eyes – besides Nashua’s five-run comeback in the eighth inning Sunday — was the relief job by Nashua’s Brandon Dufault on Friday night vs. Brockton, striking out five of the six hitters he faced. Yes, the pitchers appear to be ahead of the hitters, but Dufault is ahead of everybody. You saw Friday why Knights general manager Cam Cook said a couple of weeks ago that if the MLB Draft had been its normal 40 some rounds, “he wouldn’t be here.” Dealing.

—- Paolucci said the atmosphere in New Britain “was electric” on their opening night this past Thursday.

“Everybody was excited to be out there on the field, New Britain puts on a good show for the fans,” he said, adding that the crowd, like Nashua’s was capped at 25 percent. “It shows we have real loyal fans,” he said. “Even at 25 percent, it’s a good show for everybody.”

— Certainly different without the in-between inning fan participation contests on the the field that were fun and entertaining. But at least in the middle of the sixth we still have the Silver Knights players doing the “Love is Gone” dance.

They were a little slow to get into it on Sunday down 5-0 in the sixth, but that’s OK.

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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