They fight, battle, scratch, claw, play hard, as shown by their ninth inning uprising on Tuesday night.

But they also leave runners on base. They give up the two out, run scoring hit instead of getting the big two-out hit.

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, introducing your 2022 Nashua Silver Knights, who unfortunately can be found at the bottom of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League standings at 4-12 going into tonight’s game at New Britain, thanks to a five-game losing streak.

It’s the last place that Nashua general manager Cam Cook and field manager Kyle Jackson thought they’d be. They worked hard in the off-season to put together a roster that wouldn’t struggle through two-thirds of the season the way the 2021 Silver Knights did.

This team seems to compete better than that one, with better talent. But the results have not shown it. The roster again was in flux to start the season, but with most of the college tourneys done except the biggie in Omaha, players are arriving to hopefully bolster the roster.

“As of right now, everyone’s here,” Cook said. “So from this point forward, there’s no excuses at all.”

But the mistakes keep happening. Foul balls in play not caught, giving hitters second chances. Runners doubled up on fly balls. And men being left on base, as happened in last night’s 7-6 loss to the Bees at Holman Stadium. Nashua left a dozen standing on bags. Ugh.

“Runners left on base, just doing too much when guys get on instead of simpifying it like how we got runners on,” Jackson said. “When you’re on a losing streak, you can’t leave runners on base. Get the two-out hit. That’s what we’re missing, the two-out hit.”

Middle relief has been a sore sport, although last night it was the starter, Brady Clark, who had the tough night, giving up five of the Bees’ seven runs. Clark was, according to Jackson, trying to tough it out after being weakened the last few days by food poisoning. No offense, but maybe he should have sat it out instead.

The most frustrating loss in the streak had to be Sunday, when the Knights lost 5-4 at Vermont after leading 4-0 early. The defending champion Lake Monsters have replaced Nashua and Worcester as the league’s top franchise, but get this: Nashua has lost 14 straight to Vermont dating back to last season. Sinful.

Nashua’s Brady Jesjardins gets doubled up off first by New Britain’s Colton Shaw on a fly ball during Tuesday night’s 7-6 loss to the Bees at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Meanwhile, with the rest of the roster coming or having just arrived perhaps Jackson will find the right combination. A slugger like Wake Forest’s Chris Katz, who homered last night and seems to play with a chip on his shoulder, should help.

“They all can,” Jackson said. “They’ll be fine. I feel for them, they’re working their butts off.”

But in a for-profit league, wins will help put butts in the seats. Fans come to be entertained, even by a team that’s not having the greatest season, so it’s not imperative. But you know that Cook and Jackson aren’t in this to miss the playoffs a second straight year, not after experiencing the majority of the franchise’s league high five FCBL titles.

“That’s the frustrating thing,” Cook said. “There’s a lot of talented players on that team.” But, he added, to start out 4-11, now 4-12, is “borderline unacceptable.”

“There’s what, 45, 46 games left,” Cook said. “So take it one game at a time, win today, go to New Britain and win tomorrow. We can’t get caught up in the standings too much.”

No, but as Yogi Berra once said, it’s getting late early.The Nashua Silver Knights don’t want the summer to be over before it starts.

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