NASHUA – They now know when and where, and so do their fans.

The Futures Collegiate Baseball League, after months of uncertainty whether it would go with seven or eight teams, released its 2019 schedule on Thursday.

And, for the first time in their nine year history, the Nashua Silver Knights will have a mid-week Holman Stadium season opener – Wednesday, May 29 vs. Brockton.

Blame the schedule delay due to the court haggling with Martha’s Vineyard, which the FCBL ultimately allowed to leave to join the New England Collegiate Baseball League late last week. Thus, the league will go with seven teams, with the recently announced Westfield, Mass.team being the seventh club.

Normally, the team has opened on the road and played its home opener on a Friday night to provide a more festive atmosphere. Team officials couldn’t have been happy with the end result

“I would agree with that,” Silver Knights co-general manager Victoria Cookson said. “In an eight team schedule, we would’ve opened on that Friday (May 31). But it was a concession we had to make with the seven team schedule due to some of the commitments with the other teams and cities with blacked out dates, etc.”

Cookson said it will be a “soft open” on May 29 with a more festive event planned for the second home game on Sunday, June 2.

“A lot of our game day staff has aged out,” Cookson said. “So we’ll have an inexperienced staff to start and this will help. We’ll try to do some really fun things on June 2 that will create the buzz.”

Game times remain the same as last year: Monday through Thursday, 7:05 p.m.; Fridays at 6:45 p.m.; Saturdays at 6:05 p.m. and Sundays at 5:05 p.m.

The Knights ran into some problems with the Friday fireworks nights as games dragged on close to the 10 p.m. city mandated fireworks curfew. But Cookson doesn’t think that will be as big a problem this year.

But the delay in getting the schedule, she said, is a problem, especially in terms of group sales. The schedule is usually out by early November.

“An opportunity that was missed in 2018 was specifically groups,” she said. “That hurt our bottom line pretty significantly. That was our target area for 2019 and (the delay) is going to make (group ticket sales) more difficult.”

But overall, Cookson said the franchise is happy with the schedule, as it’s not as June heavy as last year.

“It’s fair,” she said. “We’re not as front loaded in June, which is good since kids don’t get out of school until around June 14.”

In June the team has two Fridays, one Saturday, and two Sunday night scheduled days. They will have two Thursday night dates, which are normally high draws as dollar beverage nights.

The Silver Knights have just two Fridays at home in July, but with three Saturday nights.

The FCBL All-Star game will be in Pittsfield, Mass.on Tuesday, July 16, with the All-Star break June 15-17.

The FCBL season ends on Aug. 4, but Nashua’s last game will be at North Shore on Aug. 3. The last regular season home game is Thursday, Aug. 1.

The playoffs, which begin Aug. 5, will remain the same, as the league is playing a 56-game schedule per team to eliminate just one club. The top two seeds will get a first round bye while the other four play a one-night play-in round. Then the semis and finals are best two-out-of-three each.

Other Silver Knight scheduled notables: The team will have its annual 11:05 a.m. Education Day Game on Tuesday, June 4; the Knights will be home on July 3 but away on July 4; and they will have a noon home game on Wednesday, July 31, for local youth camps. That has been a tough sell in the past, but Cookson said “We’ll have to put the effort into it.”

While the departure of Martha’s Vineyard caused a huge schedule delay, it helps the league teams financially. Cookson said the Silver Knights can save as much as $6,000 or more in travel costs. The team, with the odd-team schedule, will have 11 off days.

Here is the schedule:

MAY

Wednesday, May 29 – Brockton at Nashua.

Thurs, May 30 – Nashua at Worcester

Friday, May 31 – Off

JUNE

Saturday, June 1 – Nashua at North Shore

Sunday, June 2 – Wocester at Nashua

Monday June 3 – Brockton at Nashua

Tuesday, June 4 – Bristol at Nashua (11:05 a.m.)

Wednesday, June 5 – Nashua at North Shore

Thurs, June 6 – Off

Friday, June 7 – Westfield at Nashua

Saturday, June 8 – Nashua at North Shore

Sunday, June 9 – Nashua at Brockton

Monday, June 10 – Westfield at Nashua

Tuesday, June 11 – Pittsfield at Nashua

Wednesday, June 12 – Nashua at Brockton

Thursday, June 13 – Pittsfield at Nashua

Friday, June 14 – Nashua at Bristol

Saturday, June 15 – Westfield at Nashua

Sunday, June 16 – Nashua at Westfield

Monday, June 17 – Nashua at Brockton

Tuesday, June 18 – Brockton at Nashua

Wednesday, June 19 – Off.

Thursday, June 20 – North Shore at Nashua

Friday, June 21 – Nashua at Brockton

Saturday, June 22 – Nashua at Pittsfield

Sunday, June 23 – Pittsfield at Nashua

Monday, June 24 – Bristol at Nashua

Tuesday, June 25 – Off.

Wednesday, June 26 – Nashua at Westfield

Thursday, June 27 – Nashua at Pittsfield

Friday, June 28 -Bristol at Nashua

Saturday, June 29 – Nashua at Westfield

Sunday, June 30 – Off.

JULY

Monday, July 1 – Nashua at Bristol

Tuesday, July 2 – Nashua at Brockton

Wednesday, July 3 – Worcester at Nashua.

Thursday, July 4 – Nashua at Worcester

Friday, July 5 – Nashua at Pittsfield

Saturday, July 6 – Brockton at Nashua

Sunday, July 7 – Off.

Monday, July 8 – Bristol at Nashua

Tuesday, July 9 – North Shore at Nashua

Wednesday, July 10 – Nashua at Westfield

Thursday, July 11 – Worcester at Nashua

Friday, July 12 – Worcester at Nashua

Saturday, July 13 – North Shore at Nashua

Sunday, July 14 – Pittsfield at Nashua

Monday, July 15 – Off.

Tuesday, July 16 – All Star Game at Pittsfield

Wednesday, July 17 – Off

Thursday, July 18 – Nashua at Worcester

Friday, July 19 – Westfield at Nashua

Saturday, July 20 – Pittsfield at Nashua

Sunday, July 21 – Bristol at Nashua

Monday, July 22 – Nashua at Bristol

Tuesday, July 23 – Off.

Wednesday, July 24 – Nashua at Bristol

Thursday, July 25 – Westfield at Nashua

Friday, July 26 – Nashua at Worcester

Saturday, July 27 – Nashua at Bristol

Sunday, July 28 – Nashua at North Shore

Monday, July 29 – Off.

Tuesday, July 30 – Nashua at Pittsfield

Wednesday, July 31 – Brockton at Nashua

AUGUST

Thursday, Aug. 1 – North Shore at Nashua

Friday, Aug. 2 – Nashua at Worcester

Saturday, Aug. 3 – Nashua at North Shore

Sunday, Aug. 4 – Off.

Aug. 5-12: FCBL Playoffs.

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