Nashua's Patrick Shrake watches Vermont infielder Nick Frontino lose his balance after he steals second during Thursday night's FCBL game at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Take away the first three hitters of Thursday night’s FCBL game with Vermont at Holman Stadium, and the Nashua Silver Knights would be smiling right now.

Instead, they’re thinking what could have been after a tough 5-4 loss to the Lake Monsters before a lively announced crowd of 1,150 that saw things look bleak early on when it was 3-0 Monsters with nobody out in the first.

“Every time they play us, they either punch us in the face in the first inning and they win,” Silver Knights manager Nick Guarino said, “or we get out of the first and we get back to it and win the game. We won that game after the first inning, but baseball’s a full nine. Got to show up ready to play from the first one. Can’t wait until the fifth or sixth to get going.”

That’s what Silver Knights starter Brennan Rumpf had to deal with, beginning with a misplayed double to right leading off the game by Vermont’s Sam Cavossa, an RBI single up the middle by Nolan Colby, and then a homer to the left field picnic area by Knights killer Shaun McMillan. Bing, bang, boom, 3-zip.

“It doesn’t help when we make a play like that (ball over Dylan Littlefield’s head) in the outfield,” Knights manager Nick Guarino said. “As a pitcher, that’s a bad feeling. … then we fall behind to the best hitter in the league, fastball middle-middle. … (McMillan) didn’t get a fastball the rest of the game.”

The Knights (20-18) twice closed to within a run at 3-2 and 5-4 thanks in part to four Vermont errors, but couldn’t get the equalizer.

It didn’t help that Vermont (24-14) had arguably the league’s best pitcher, left John Delgado, on the mound with his 0.93 earned run average. One of the two runs he gave up was earned.

“We had 10 or 12 hard hit balls today,” Guarino said. “We’re hitting the ball hard; eventually they’re going to fall.”

Rumpf after the first inning was superb, as he retired 15 in a row at one point. He allowed the three runs on four hits, fanned four and didn’t walk a batter in his first start of the season as the Knights look to a couple in their bullpen to fill holes in the starting rotation.

“He settled in,”Guarino said. “He comes in to the dugout all mad after he gave up the home run. But you’re a starter now, not a reliever, it’s no longer one inning and you’re out of the game. Settle in, go five more and put up zeroes. And that’s what he did.”

Nashua got a run in the fourth when Patrick Shrake still made it to second on a steal after being picked off and scored on Joseph Zorc’s RBI single. Anthony Grabau scored on a throwing error by Vermont catcher Tommy Popoff in the sixth to cut it to 3-2.

Unfortunately, reliever Justin Dressler gave up two runs in the top of the seventh on a Popoff sac fly and Sam Cavossa RBI hit to make it 5-2. Still, the Knights came right back in the bottom half for two unearned runs, one scoring on Littlefield’s booming double to right center, and Littlefield later scored on Jack Balcer’s RBI ground out.

“Again, it’s the resilience of the team,” Guarino said. “We probably should have won the game.”

Vermont returns to Holman Sunday, and they’ll face starter Ethan Hunt. Matt Fitzgibbon makes his final start for the Knights tonight at New Britain – which lost last night – and ace Andrew Chenevert takes his 5-0 record to Westfield on Saturday.