Nashua's Jack Penney slides into second despite the efforts of Westfield infielder Hunter Pasqualini during Thursday night's game at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It’s a different feeling around the Nashua Silver Knights these days.

That’s why it seemed no problem when they were trailing the Westfield Starfires by 5-0 and 6-2 tallies at Holman Stadium on Thursday night.

That’s what eight straight wins will do for you. Sure enough, Nashua came back to close to within 6-5 and twice had the tying run at third, but the Knights’ streak was ultimately snapped with a 9-5 loss before a crowd of 876.

“Hey I’ll take nine out of 10,” Nashua skipper Kyle Jackson said. “For these guys to do nine out of 10, a lot of them on the road, now it gives them an opportunity to have a chance, you know?”

It’s still a tough sell for the Silver Knights (24-33) to make the playoffs with only a week left in the season. Coming in they were just four back in the loss column o of fourth place Worcester (28-29,final playoff seed), but they missed a golden opportunity as the Bravehearts also lost 5-3 at New Britain. Westfield (26-30) is also right on Worcester’s tail.

And Nashua is starting to lose players to the FCBL’s longest season, 68 games. Infielder and one of the team’s power threats, Connor Hujsak, had to head back Thursday to Virginia Commonwealth. Center fielder Logan Ott also has to return home after tonight’s game. And yes, tonight at Holman is the first of three straight against first place Vermont.

“It should be fun,” Jackson said with a grin. “I wouldn’t mind taking three from them.”

It looked like they might claw back and take one from Westfield, but the hole was dug too deep. During the winning streak – second longest in franchise history – Nashua had given up more than three runs just once. But the Starfires put up a five spot vs. Knights starter Zach Gitschier in the fourth, after he had a six pitch third. The runs came on two homers over the brick wall in left, a lined, two-run shot by Cam Meyer and a three-run fly ball by Traverse Briana to make it 5-0.

It was too bad, as Gitschier, making his first start of the year after 11 appearances out of the pen, had huge fan section in the main luxury suite that gathered with him after the game on the pitcher’s mound for photos.

“That’s a good team, they hit, we just didn’t capitalize on a couple of things,” Jackson said. “Git gave us a good outing, then the fourth kind of fell apart for him with the two home runs.”

Nashua got a left field homer of its own, a two-run bomb by Jackson Linn in the bottom of the inning. Trailing 6-2, the Knights scored three in the bottom of the sixth off Westfield reliever Tim Cotter on Will MacLean’s RBI single and Kevin Skagerlind’s two-run triple into the right field corner. But he was left stranded at third as was Sam McNulty in the seventh.

Meanwhile, it was a sloppy game as well, as the Starfires overcame five errors and the teams combined for seven. One of Nashua’s strengths during the win streak was its bullpen which had an incredible 14.1 straight hitless innings from July 28 to August 1.

But alas, last night the pen surrendered four, including two in the ninth on a bases loaded walk and then a wild pitch thrown by Nick Remy, the runs charged to Liam Eliot. That helped Westfield double its lead.

The Knights hope the game doesn’t mirror their season – slow start, much better middle, then eventual fade.

“The guys battled back,” Jackson said. “They’re playing as a team. They’re all invested. … You can see the confidence in the team. They never feel they’re out of a game. It’s been that way the whole year. They expect to win.”

NOTES

Taking Hujsak’s spot at shortstop is Notre Dame’s Jack Penny, who was on the original roster but had to take two summer classes at the Golden Dome. “He’ll get some swings and get ready for college, which is what this year is about,: Jackson said. …

Hujsak’s Silver Knight season ends with him hitting .241 with four homers and 15 RBIs…

Tonight is the final fireworks show of the season…

Jackson has right Jack Beauchesne (2-3, 3.22) on the hill tonight, while on Saturday and Sunday in Burlington it’s lefty Nick Guarino (4-2, 3.47) and RHP Griffin Young (1-4, 3.97), respectively.