Players from this year's Nashua Silver Knights roster wait around at Holman Stadium for meetings to start as Tuesday was reporting day. Opening Night is Thursday at Holman. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Kyle Jackson walked into Holman Stadium on Tuesday and his eyebrows were raised.

“The size,” he said when the Nashua Silver Knights manager was asked what his first impression was of the players who had reported for duty. “We’ve got a bunch of big kids here.”

It was Jackson’s first physical look at the some of the roster that he and general manager Cam Cook put together, and he’ll get an even better look at the team’s first workout at Holman today from 9-11 a.m. But yesterday faces could finally be put to some of the names he was familiar with, as some 20 players reported with about another 10 still with their college teams in the postseason.

But Jackson is hoping for a better start than last year’s 1-5 mark that sent the Knights on their way to a 27-39 record, missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

“We didn’t go as young,” Jackson said. “We wanted kids who had at least a year experience in college. Last year we didn’t; our best players were kids who were high school kids (incoming college freshmen). And it took awhile for them to even get adjusted to what college (ball) is.

“You’re facing kids from Virginia, Wake Forest, all over, and these were high school kids from Mass. and New Hampshire. Their projection was there, but not at the stage what we need to do to put a competitive team on the field.”

The Knights put together a better second half and weren’t officially eliminated until their final home game, with four or five games left.

“I told the kids, if you’re (Division) II or III, the competition you’re going to see here is nothing like you’ve seen your whole (college) season,” Jackson said.

Part of the issue that many seem to forget is that this is a wooden bat league, and even the most experienced college players need to make the adjustment.

“I see them grab a bat, see them in BP,and they can’t pull the ball,” Jackson said. “I’m a pitching guy. As a hitter, they have to talk to other hitters.”

And that’s what Jackson told his players, as helping out with hitting with be Nashua South assistant Brendan Martin, who will join the team full time when the Panthers season is over. General manager Cam Cook may help out early on, likely more so on the road.

In any event, Jackson feels much better about this team assembled. Cook noted last week how good the bullpen arms are, and Jackson said he’s looking forward to seeing many of them, including Noah Mrotek out of Maryland, plus Jonah Wachter from Tulane.

“It’s good to see some fresh new faces,” Jackson said. “I’ve never been a fan of bringing kids back, but we wanted to bring the kids we brought in halfway through last year because they did so well.”

Jackson said he’s toying with the idea of having two pitchers go three innings each to start games, and not just at the start of the season. He’ll see how things shake out, but it would rest arms and enable him to mix and match.

“It’s a long season,” he said. “You don’t have that many kids that could go that long every five or six days.”

The catchers the team will start the season with, Jackson said, are on two-week contracts, Noah Jankowski of Bates and Bishop Guertin’s Kyle Lavigne, who was academically a junior in 2021 for the Cards but athletically a senior.

The players met with Cook and Jackson initially and then had a meeting with some sponsors under the tent across from the bullpen down the right field line. Team owner John Creedon, Jr. was on hand as well yesterday.

POWER ON THE IL

Mitch McCabe, the power hitter out of Pace with 11 homers and 31 RBIs, will start the season on the injured list, Jackson said, with shoulder issues.

“He’ll be here, but he won’t be cleared for two weeks,” he said.

Also, Plymouth State’s Bobby Cliche, expected to be in the starting rotation, won’t be joining the team after all, Jackson said. No reason was given.

FIRST THREE STARTERS

Jackson has named Salve Regina righty Brayden Clark to start Opening Night on Thursday.

“He’s the most ready, I think,” Jackson said. “I talked to him the other day, he threw 60 pitches on Saturday. It’s five days, and 60 pitches isn’t a lot, he’ll be fine.”

Another righty, Trevor Neff, will get the nod Friday at Worcester. That makes sense, as Neff goes to Holy Cross and will basically be pitching at home.

“I figured that’d be good since he pitches for Holy Cross,” Jackson said. “There you go, just pitch at home again.”

Silver Knights veteran Shea Ryan will get the nod back at Holman on Saturday vs. Worcester (6 p.m.). Ryan is coming off throwing a no-hitter at LeMoyne on May 12 that at the time kept Assumption alive in the Northeast 10 Conference tournament. Last summer, Ryan started four games in 13 appearances and went 3-1, 4.59. “He knows that competition is not this competition,” Jackson said. “He has to be able to throw at the knees.”

TRYOUT SIGNING

The Silver Knights signed a lefty, Jarrett Morrill, out of Worcester State, at the open tryout the FCBL held at Brockton’s Campanelli Stadium last week.

Morrill went 3-1, 2.70 his freshman season in 10 appearances, four of them starts. He had 35 strikeouts and 10 walks in 31.1 innings.

“A lefty, throws 83 to 85 (mph),” Jackson said, adding one more tidbit about him. He actually had tickets for Thursday night’s game, as he lives just down the road in Chelmsford, Mass.

Now he won’t need them, he can walk in for free.