Aiven Cabral delivers one of the 78 pitches he threw in his best start of the season for the Nashua Silver Knights in Game 1 of the FCBL Semifinals Monday night at New Britain Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Aiven Cabral was signing autographs near the visitors dugout at New Britain Stadium as a small line had formed in the stands, and why not?

The Northeastern-bound Nashua Silver Knights starter saved his best for the when it counted the most, as he dominated the New Britain Bees while his teammates’ bats did the rest in an impressive 11-3 Silver Knights win in Game 1 of the FCBL Semifinals.

“Aiven came out and threw amazing and set the tone for our hitters,” Nashua manager Kyle Jackson said. “Aiven just shut it down. Every time we’d score runs he’d put a zero up.”

Nashua can clinch the best-of-three series with a win today in Game 2 at Holman Stadium, set for 6 p.m. Nolan Lincoln (4-1, 3.40) will get the starting nod for the Knights. New Britain’s starter had not yet been named. Both teams, as well as a crowd of 2,132 had to wait an extra hour while the grounds crew waited for the back end of the infield to dry after a 4 p.m. downpour came with the field uncovered.

Cabral tossed six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on just three hits while posting a season high 12 strikeouts with only one walk. He threw 78 pitches, 58 for strikes, and was the perfect example of a big game pitcher.

“I just felt really confident, really trusting my team especially after they put a big spot up early on,” Cabral said. “I felt I had everything working, everything was in the zone, where I wanted it.”

“It was his best start of the season,” Jackson said. “He just attacked the zone, and said ‘Here’s my best pitch.'”

Perhaps some in that line also wanted Jack McDermott’s autograph, or at least they should have. All the Silver Knights second baseman did was homer twice, going 3 for 6 also with a double and five RBIs.

McDermott had been filling in the No. 3 spot in the order while Kyle Wolff was out with dental issues.But he was back in the No. 2 spot last night and sent a moon shot off a T.J. Wainwright 1-2 pitch deep into the night in right field after Brady O’Brien reached on an infield hit in the third to make it 2-0, starting Nashua’s five run frame.

Nashua Silver Knights’ Jack McDermott is congratulated by his teammates after the first of his two homers in Game 1 of the FCBL semifinals on Monday night at New Britain Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

In the sixth, he did the same thing, although this one off a 2-0 offering from the Bees’ Jaden Wywoda with two on to make it an 8-1 game.

“He has been on fire,” Jackson said. “I think he’s more comfortable in the No. 2 hole. With Wolff coming back, it kind of put less pressure on him where he can not try to do too much. Super excited for him to have that kind of game in a playoff game.”

“I was just seeing it really well,” McDermott said. “And I was just trying to keep it simple. Hit the ball hard, not necessarily out, but it just happened to go my way.

“We had great energy coming in, we knew it was going to be a tough battle, playoff game, emotions high. So we just kept at it.”

Indeed, Nashua sent perhaps a message that they were there to compete against the Bees, who took five of seven from them in the regular season but lost two here, when O’Brien singled and McDermott doubled to start the game. They were stranded, and Nashua left a runner at third in the second, but in the third they took care of business as Kyle DeRoma’s two-run single and a Bees throwing error brought home three more runs after McDermott’s first blast.

Ray Velazquez singled home two runs in the sixth as well, making it a 10-1 game.

In the other semifinal,Vermont rallied from a 2-0 deficit to get a 6-2 win over Westfield, with Game 2 tonight in Westfield.

But Jackson knows New Britain, held to five hits overall, will be tough tonight; the Bees haven’t lost at Holman this season, so Lincoln will have his work cut out.

“He’s been a great pitcher,” Jackson said. “Hopefully he puts our zeroes and gives our defense a chance to play because we’re solid all around.

“They’re (the Bees) going to come out swinging and we have to weather the storm and come out too.”