Once again, there was a magical night at Holman Stadium.

The place just has a knack for those. And so do the Nashua Silver Knights and Worcester Bravehearts for providing them. As you probably know by now, they did just that in a highly entertaining game – make that series – with Nashua taking the third and deciding game of the 2020 Futures Collegiate League Finals.

It’s the third time in 10 years that the Knights have won the Futures Collegiate League championship at Holman. The first time occurred in 2012, over the North Shore Navigators. It was memorable in that very few baseball championships had been won on that field.

The second was in 2017, when the Silver Knights toppled Worcester 2-0 on a Saturday night with Holman packed to sweep the FCBL final series, having won the night before at Hanover Insurance Park on the Holy Cross campus.

That night the fans, probably about 2,000 of them, gave the team a long standing ovation. And Saturday night, albeit with a smaller crowd due to the COVID restrictions, the team turned to the fans and held up the trophy, getting another long ovation.

They simply love this team in Nashua, don’t they?

“All the fans, they just incredibly supportive all summer long,” Nashua (and Worcester) owner John Creedon, Jr. said, adding in Nashua Mayor James Donchess, city health director Bobbie D. Bagley, and plenty of other city officials in there.

“Understanding on how we had to implement new protocols, and still it didn’t temper their enthusiasm for their hometown team here. The boys were able to reflect it back, and bring home another championship.”

Creedon didn’t own Nashua back in 2017, but he was amazed at that night.

And last night, another example of just how popular the Silver Knights are – and can be.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “It’s about culture. Success is about culture, and culture’s about people. You’ve got to put the right people in place.”

He has that in Nashua, for certain, and already had it in Worcester, which has reached the FCBL Finals each year since it came into the league in 2014. The Bravehearts have had great fan support, but of course that is going to be challenged next summer if the Triple A WooSox and their new ballpark open as scheduled. In these times, as Creedon will tell you, you never look more than a day ahead.

Jackson told his players back in July after a tough start to simply enjoy the moment of playing. But he was like a kid when he found out the last couple of weeks on June that there was going to be a Silver Knights/Futures League season in Nashua.

“When I got the call that we were able to practice, and the owners weren’t going to get shut down, that was like a breath of fresh air,” Jackson said, “because I love coming here. I live two minutes away.

“And to have my first year as manager, under these circumstances, I didn’t think it would happen, but I’m so glad that it did. I wouldn’t trade these guys for the world.”

And we wouldn’t trade nights like Saturday for the world, either. It was another Holman Happening that no one could have envisioned taking place three months ago.

So again, as a local sports fan, cherish it and hope for more.

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

Newsletter