Nashua South alum Nick Perkins is back for his second season with the Nashua Silver Knights, who began workouts on Tuesday at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Nashua Silver Knights manager Kyle Jackson pointed to the first baseman during the team’s first batting practice session of the season Tuesday at sun splashed Holman Stadium.

“Look at him,” Jackson said. “Almost didn’t recognize him.”

That’s because the Nashua High School South alum Perkins, in his next to last year of eligibility at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass., spent a lot of time in the weight room in the off-season. He bulked up, adding at least 15 pounds to his frame. He’s listed as six foot, 205, but you may want to add a few to the that number.

“I wanted to hit the ball farther,” Perkins simply said his reason for getting bigger was. “I decided after last summer, the level of competition. I realized some of these guys are smoking the ball. I figured if I wanted to do better, I needed to put on some weight.

It seemed to work. In 24 at-bats in eight games for Endicott this spring, Perkins hit .375 with three homers and eight RBIs, slugged .833 and just felt more confident at the plate.

Last summer, Perkins did hit .300 for the Knights, but time after time came up in key situations and struck out (14 times in 40 at bats). That told him he needed to make a change. And just striking out twice this past spring told him he made the right decision. And says his bat speed has probably gotten better.

“Honestly, last year was a little bit of a wakeup call,” Perkins said. “After playing D3 (Division III) here, you see some Division I guys and it’s a different world. … This league tremendously helped me, so I decided to come back.”

And why not? He spent a summer in his home ball park and won a championship.

“It was awesome,” Perkins said. “I remember I saw people I knew from high school, my parents came and saw me, my high school coach (South’s James Gaj) came and watched me.”

And he could celebrate a title with them.

“That was awesome,” Perkins said. “A once in a lifetime thing. Especially after last summer, what all the guys went through (in not playing most of their 2020 college seasons), I think we all needed it.”

Perkins remembers after being sent home from college during the pandemic, and was doubtful there’d be a Silver Knight season until general manager Cam Cook said it was a go, not a no.

Perkins has another year of eligibility thanks to the pandemic and will be getting his Masters in Homeland Security.

But in his homeland of Holman Stadium Thursday night, he’ll be getting some hardware – a championship ring.

“It’s going to be pretty awesome,” he said. “A bunch of us kept it touch, I’ll be looking forward to it. I saw some guys during the season.”

Wonder if they recognized him right away.

NO GAME TONIGHT

The Silver Knights were slated to open the season on the road tonight at one of the new franchises, the Vermont Lake Monsters, but that game was moved to July 5 as Vermont needed to wait a few days before larger fan capacity would be allowed.

LIMITED ROSTER

The usual roster for this team will be as many as 40 players, as the league gears up for its longest season ever, 68 games. But the roster for the first week will be about half of that, as a lot of college teams are still playing in either conference or the NCAA tournaments. Plus there are high school seniors that haven’t graduated yet and can’t be eligible till usually mid-June.

Players reported to Holman for the first time Tuesday, but Opening Night there will be just 22 on the roster. That, Cook said, is the same for most teams. However, the Knights did not sign anyone out of last Friday’s open workout in Brockton.

“I have enough to field an infield, outfield – just enough for outfield, and one pitcher is two-way, so he might play outfield as a backup,” Jackson said. “And I have 12 or 13 pitchers. Cam told me we’re good for a week until everyone shows up.”

OPENING NIGHT STARTER?

Jackson isn’t sure who he’ll tab for Opening Night, as he was still learning names and matching them to faces yesterday. But he said he’d likely decide that today. And back is one of the heroes of last year’s post season, lefty pitcher Nick Guarino, so keep that in mind.

PREPARATIONS ONGOING

Holman was getting a deep cleaning yesterday, as the preparations for Thursday are ongoing. Knights owner John Creedon was at the stadium Tuesday as well.

“It’s finally here, we couldn’t be more excited, the fans are excited, the players are excited,” Creedon said. “There seems to be a taste of normalcy coming back.

“We’re just amped up.”