Telegraph photo by TOM KING Nashua Silbver Knights reliever Brandon Dufault delivers a pitch during this past Saturday's game vs. North Shore at Holman Stadium.

NASHUA – The Nashua Silver Knights certainly have lost a few key players who had to return to school, a couple impacting their bullpen.

Could hard throwing righty Brandon Dufault possibly fill the void as the Nashua vs. Worcester Futures League Finals are set for late this week? The series is tentatively set for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (if necessary), 7 p.m. on Thursday and 6 p.m. the other two days, all at Holman Stadium.

“He’s still figuring it out,” Silver Knights manager Kyle Jackson said. “We’ll see how he’s feeling. (Saturday) was probably the most pitches he’s probably thrown.”

Windham’s Dufault, the Northeastern University closer who was the FCBL’s Pitcher of the Year has been somewhat of a forgotten man in the bullpen thanks to a strained oblique that shelved him for about a month.

Knights manager Kyle Jackson has used him a couple of times since his return, usually in low leverage situations. He’s still finding his form, and so if he can do that while still feeling strong, who knows? Nashua has lost relievers Steve Miller and Kyle Skidmore to college reporting requirements.

“It was a little weird being hurt for about three weeks,” Dufault said. “I’ve never really missed time because of an injury before. So now it’s a little bit frustrating, and I’ve eased back into throwing. But I’m excited to be back out here and throwing. It’s feeling really good.”

Overall, Dufault has gotten into eight games this season going into tonight’s regular season home finale vs. North Shore, three since he returned from the DL. He’s 0-0, 1.12 with a save, and 14 strikeouts in eight innings. However one example of him possibly overthrowing as he tries to find a rhythm is six walks.

“I feel comfortable out there, it’s a a little weird,” he said. “Maybe pressing a little on pitches, trying to get that form back to where I was before I got hurt. But I definitely feel better and better each time out.”

“It’s tough trying to find a rhythm and not overthrow,” Jackson said. “He did it (Saturday) a couple of times but he bounced back, made some great pitches and gave us a chance.”

Since the Cape cancelled its season back in May, a lot of college players were seeking other options. One of them happened to be Dufault.

Despite the injury woes, it was still a great pickup for Nashua, because Windham’s Dufault was the FCBL Pitcher of the Year in 2018, going 4-1, 1.30 in eight starts.

But that was in his starting days. Now he’s used as one of the team’s late inning relievers, is someone many – including Silver Knights general manager Cam Cook — feel would be in the minor leagues right now with a Major League organization were this a normal year, with a normal 40-round draft and minor league season.

“If that were the case,” Cook said back in late May, “he wouldn’t be here right now.”

“I think it’s awesome, I think it’s a cool opportunity to get back here,” Dufault said back in late June when he arrived for workouts. “I had a great season here two years ago, my freshman summer. I love pitching here, love the fans, the organization.”

Last summer he enjoyed pitching on the Cape for Yarmouth-Dennis.

“It was great,” he said. “I did pretty well. It was a good time, a good experience, learning experience, it was often.”

Dufault was in the pen mainly on the Cape last summer but made a couple of spot starts. He’s made the switch from starter to reliever pretty well. Two years ago with Nashua he started vs. Brockton in the playoffs and things, as Jackson said, “didn’t go his way.”

“It’s definitely a different mentality,” Dufault said of relieving. “Rather than doing a whole day prep for a start, with closing you can can mentally prepare to close, come in in the eighth or ninth inning, and throw fastballs, off-speed and dominate hitters.”

“He’s got a live arm, he throws in the low three quarters,” Jackson said. “His fastball has a good run to it, plus his slider and changeup.

“I had a quick little conversation with him about the transition (to the bullpen). I did it. I said ‘When you come out of the bullpen, anything goes. It’s a different mentality.’ And he loves it.”

The other thing Jackson noted is Dufault has three pitches – his changeup being the third – when most relievers only have two.

Last summer, the Cape League certainly helped him. It was everything he imagined and more.

“The competition is insane,” Dufault said. “Players from all over the country, the best of the best. The best universities for baseball. But this year the Futures League is stacked, too, because all those kids who were going to play (on the Cape) are playing here.”

Dufault called his Cape experience “a dream come true.”

“It’s a super cool environment because it’s all high school fields,” he said. “The fans are super close and they’re super into it. Beach chairs everywhere.”

And Dufault knew he was pitching then – as perhaps he is this summer – in front of a lot of scouts.

“It was interesting,” he said. “It was comforting to know you knew they were there, you didn’t really have to guess. So it was definitely pressure. But it was pressure you knew was coming so you could prepare for it.”

This past spring, Dufault had nine appearances in Northeastern’s 15 games, was 0-1 with four saves and a microscopic earned run average of 0.96.

So that season gets shut down. Then the Cape League gets cancelled. One can only imagine what was going through Dufault’s mind.

“Honestly I had no idea,” Dufault said. “It was all kind of spur of the moment. We saw Harvard, they cancelled classes, then the whole Ivy League cancelled (in the spring) and we said ‘No way this could happen to us; it’s just the Ivy League being the Ivy League’. And then everyone started shutting down.”

Dufault kept his eye on the Futures League. And for him, after the Cape had cancelled, no news was good news.

“I never heard they (the FCBL) were shutting down,” Dufault said.

And maybe, just maybe, depending on health and confidence, Dufault will be far from shut down and be a key part of the bullpen in the Finals.

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Worcester (22-15) was surprisingly swept by New Britain on Monday,6-3 and 7-0, and still needs one win or a Silver Knights (21-16) loss with two games left to clinch the top seed. That would make the Bravehearts the home team at Holman for Games 1 and, if needed, 3. Otherwise, if Worcester goes 0-2 and the Silver Knights 2-0, Nashua would be the home team in those games. Knights general manager Cam Cook said late Monday the teams and the FCBL were waiting on final city approval, to be sure there were no other events scheduled for Holman.

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He hasn’t been on the disabled list, but Silver Knights infielder Lucas Stallman has certainly been invisible of late. Why? Concussion.

The good news is Stallman has been cleared to play, so don’t be surprised to see him make an appearance either tonight or Wednesday at Westfield.

“I was almost hoping that this game would be rained out,” Stallman said Sunday at Brockton, “because I’d be good to go Monday (for a makeup).”

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Jackson said he wants the team to keep going offensively with the bats in the final two otherwise meaningless games, as it came out of its slump with 11 hits on Sunday.

“Bats are coming alive,” he said. “They always say it’s good to get hot at the end. We’ve got two more games, let’s stay hot. We’ll give some guys some rest, and give some guys some swings so they’re ready.”

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As of now, Josh Roberge (0-1, 4.32) is set to start tonight vs. the Navs, while Jack Dicenso (2-0, 5.27) is the scheduled starter Wednesday at Westfield.