They were back home. Finally.

Sean Lyons had been waiting for last Friday night’s scheduled opener for nine months, he said. But he and the other Nashua Silver Knights had to “settle” for an Education Day home opener at Holman Stadium on Wednesday morning.

Not ideal, but hey, home is home.

“You come here, you’re always fired up,” Lyons said about a half hour before he scored the first run at home of the Silver Knights season, sliding across the plate in the bottom of the first of a 4-3 Silver Knights win over Wachusett. “You can’t beat it. Best place to play in the FCBL.”

Let’s face it, it’s been a weird start to the 2013 season for the Knights, certainly not ideal. Lyons’ last time on the stadium turf in uniform was when he was in a pile of players last mid-August celebrating their second straight FCBL title.

He’ll get his championship ring on Saturday night, more or less the “hard open” to the home season. After Friday’s rainout, the Knights dropped a 9-6 decision at Brockton, had Sunday off, then played a similar school field trip game at Pittsfield, Mass. on Monday morning when they came away with a 3-0 win.

Then Tuesday night’s game at Old Orchard was rained out. Two rainouts, a loss, a win, and two morning games. Welcome to baseball in New England.

But Wednesday wasn’t a bad way to begin the 27-date home slate. The weather finally cleared and it was just another example of the benefit of having a franchise call Holman home, as about 1,000 boisterous kids had a ball. How come there weren’t field trips like this when we were kids, right?

“It was awesome,” Aaron Rosen, who had the game-winning hit in the eighth, said of the Holman atmosphere. “It felt great to come out in front of the kids the first time out because they love it. I had a real good time.”

It definitely felt good for the players and coaches to arrive at Holman and not have to get on a bus. They got a break, really, when Tuesday’s game was rained out so they didn’t have to come back to the stadium just hours after getting off a bus the night before.

“It’s always nice to be at home,” Silver Knights manager J.P. Pyne said. “You know being the first one it’s strange, it’s actually a bit of an adjustment. It’s almost like you have to kill some time (before the game). It’s a fun day with all the kids in the ballpark.”

The weather cleared just in time after a damp early morning. What a bummer it would’ve been to wipe out a second scheduled start to the season.

“At this point,” Pyne said, “we were just excited to play, with the weather being the way it’s been. As far as the ceremonies and all that, that’ll come. We’re going to play half our games at home, half our games on the road, and we want to make sure we win our games at home.”

Pyne isn’t expecting Holman not to be a true advantage until this roster gets more time here, as, with only nine returnees, they only worked out a couple of times at the stadium. Heck, Wednesday the newbies saw or took part in their first “Love is Gone” dance in the middle of the sixth. Get used to it, guys.

The Silver Knight love is not gone. It’s definitely back for a third summer.

Tom King can be reached at 594-6468 or tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).

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