Telegraph photo by TOM KING Nashua Silver Knights slugger Kyle Bouchard (36) gets a hero's welcome at home plate after ripping a two-run homer that gave the Knights the lead for good in their playoff clinching 8-3 win in Brockton on Sunday.

BROCKTON, Mass. – Nashua Silver Knights manager Kyle Jackson walked into the area underneath the Campanelli Stadium empty stands where his players were gathered early Sunday evening.

“Guys,” he said, “congratulations you’re in the finals.”

A loud cheer erupted. Of course, the way things had been going, the reaction could have also been a collective sigh of relief.

The Silver Knights downed the Brockton Rox, 8-3, to clinch a spot in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League Finals for the first time since 2017. The opponent will again be the Worcester Bravehearts, and the event could be dubbed the Creedon Cup as Worcester businessman John Creedon, Jr. owns both teams. There’s nothing official yet but the finals are likely to start on Friday, and there’s a chance the entire best two-out-of-three series will be held at Holman Stadium. That way Worcester fans can attend, as Massachusetts has not allowed fans at games due to the pandemic.

But first thing’s first, and that’s what the Silver Knights (21-16) did on Sunday to snap a four-game skid that had the Rox breathing down their necks, just a game separating the two teams going into yesterday after it looked the the Knights had it wrapped up early last week.

“It’s just stressful,” Jackson said. “The kids put so much pressure (on themselves). They came out of the gates hot after the break, and then they hit the 20 mark win. Kudos to Brockton, what they did (win six of seven). … it was a tough stretch for them. Today two four spots was enough.”

The win gave Nashua the season series head to head tiebreaker edge with two games left. Had the Rox won, they would have been in the driver’s seat.

“It was a heckuva run by our guys,” Rox manager Andy Theriault said, his team now 19-18. “We were up in Nashua a little over a week ago and lost 18-1. You look at the standings at that point and I think we were like 5 ½ back with something like nine games left.

“We’ve played very well at home, but today credit to those guys. They came out and had really good at bats early and put us in a whole. It was just too much for us to dig out of. But yeah, it was a very fun run here for the last week or so.”

After Brockton had taken a 1-0 lead of Nashua lefty starter Nick Guarino, the Silver Knights put up four in the second, keyed by a Kyle Bouchard two-run homer to right, and another four runs in the sixth thanks to Brockon relievers not being able to find the plate.

But again, this was a tense game. It rained steadily here a couple of hours before game time, and Jackson told his players, all of whom drove, to wait it out. And after a 29 minute rain delay, it was worth the wait.

“It feels good,” said Nashua right fielder Jared Dupere. “This game was huge for us. It was a must win game for us. And I feel we came out strong.

“All week we were ‘We have to win this game; we have to win this game’. But today it was ‘We HAVE to win this game’.”

Bouchard, who just missed tying the North Shore game on Saturday, was a late addition last week. His homer off Rox lefty starter Kevin Dow after Dylan Jones (3 for 5) led off with a single took the pressure off, especially since the team’s homer and RBI leader Dom Keegan had to leave after Saturday for Vanderbilt.

“I think that changed a lot,” Jackson said of Bouchard’s homer. “The bats (11 hits) came alive.”

Yes, as Nashua wasn’t really done in the inning as four more hits produced two more runs for a 4-1 lead, RBIs going to Troy Schreffler, Jr. (single) and Nick Shumski (ground out).

But they really didn’t need bats in the sixth, as keeping them on their shoulders helped produce four runs. Brockton reliever Chris Knight issued four straight walks to force in a run. Another scored on a wild pitch,and Shumski and Nate Cormier added sac flies. It was big because the Rox had just closed to within 4-3 in the fifth on an unearned run off Guarino.

“In a game like this, you want to make them earn it,” Theriault said. “We walked the first four and I think all of them scored.”

Guarino didn’t have his best stuff but he battled his way through six innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits, walking three and striking out six. His ERA ballooned – for him – from 0.50 to 1.13. Imagine.

But what he did throughout to improve to 4-0 was minimize the damage.

“I didn’t have my best fastball-slider combination today,” Guarino said, “so I had to relay on my changeup. Just kept doing what works. It was tough sitting in the back during the rain delay; we’re playing, we’re not playing, it was tough to get mentally ready.”

After his good effort, Guarino exited after six in favor of Jake Thibault came in and threw three scoreless frames, allowing just one hit, no walks, with two strikeouts. It was one of the team’s best clutch relief outings of the year, and Jackson wasn’t about to mess with it.

“I’m not a fan of switching pitchers when it’s raining,” Jackson said. “Just leave him out there, he knows what it is, the ball being wet.”

Now the pressure is off. Nashua has Monday off, hosts North Shore Tuesday, and finishes up the regular season on Wednesday at Westfield.

“Making the playoffs is great,” Guarino said. “We were in the top two the whole year, we expected ourselves to be there at the end of the year. Nothing’s going to change going into the weekend against Worcester.”