Silver Knights third baseman Jeff Valdez grabs a throw and is about to tag out a sliding Westfield runner Trey Cruz in the second inning of Tuesday night's FCBL game at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – This may have been more than just a win for the Nashua Silver Knights.

It may be a sign.

A sign that this team, after a tough start, is going to make a push toward being a factor in the Futures Collegiate League season playoff race.

Not to jump ahead, but games like Tuesday night’s 9-6 win over the chirping Westfield Starfires before what became a lively Holman Stadium crowd of 830 was a game a lot of teams would have written off. They were down 3-0, 6-5 and then erupted for four runs in the eighth to grab the win, pounding out 16 hits in the process.

“We compete, you know?” said Silver Knights first baseman Nate Kearney, who had three hits, reached base four times, and broke the game somewhat open with a clutch two-run double in the eighth. “We get knocked down an inning, come back the next one swinging it, and put runs together.”

“They’ve been resilient all year,” Nashua manager Kyle Jackson said, his team now 12-14 and still at Holman for four of the next five games, beginning tonight vs. Norwich. “Maybe at the beginning of the year we’re not scoring those two runs to take the lead and putting four up. That’s a big thing for them.

“The team knows they can come back. They know they can get hits. And when they’re in it, they’re going to keep competing. There’s no quit in the team.”

And message that Jackson gave them after the game, a very strong, visible one, was to stay in it. That was especially meant for the pitching staff, which at times struggled and got bailed out by the hitters and Westfield miscues.

“If you throw strikes, make them put it in play and keep this team engaged, then they will come out and put up 16 hits,” Jackson said. “When (the pitchers) put up the zeros, we start hitting. One run lead, we’ve got to get ahead in the counts. This team is going to go by our relievers, and our starters.”

Nashua starter will Perkowski struggled mightily in the first and his only inning, out by rule after throwing 40 pitches as Westfield grabbed a 2-0 lead, starting with a one out solo homer of the bat of Trey Cruz over the left field boards and Perkowski proceeded to allow another run on three walks and another hit and got a third run off reliever Andres Hulfachor in the second.

Nashua finally broke through in the fourth off Westfield starter Mason Breton with three runs to tie it coming on RBI hits by Will Fosberg and T.J. Liponis.

They took a 4-3 lead in the fifth on a Kearney single and an outfield error. The see-saw began. Westfield knotted it in the seventh thanks to two Nashua errors, and the Knights grabbed a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the frame on Owen Carey’s 308-foot homer down the left field line hooking just over the brick wall. Back came the Starfires with two in the eighth off Kyan Bagshaw thanks two two wild pitches and an RBI triple by Aidan Redahan. He gestured his own dugout with an emotional fist pump, and you couldn’t blame him.

Ah, but the Knights had the last laugh. Jeff Valdez began the rally with a one out single and in came the third Starfire pitcher of the night, righty Tyler Longoria. Tommy Ahlers singled and a throw by catcher Cam Papetti on a steal attempt sailed and Valdez scored to tie it. A walk and a popup later, Drew Loikits’ infield hit plated the go-ahead run at 7-6 and Kearney followed with his game-breaking two-run double. Loikits had four hits, three runs and an RBI on the night on which no out was a sure thing.

Andrew Koshy pitched a scoreless ninth for just the second save for the bullpen this season, and that was that.

The Knights did get some good middle relief from Nolan Mederos (two scoreless), Londonderry’s Mike Crowley (1.1 scoreless) and Liam O’Hearen (one inning, an unearned run.). After issuing five walks in the first three frames, Nashua pitching issued only one thereafter. But it was almost one too many as it scored in the eighth.

“I wanted them to know that these hitters will have the pitchers’ backs,” Jackson said.

“Get them back in the dugout.”

And back in the race.