Silver Knights outfielder Matt Jackson, shown earlier in the week, drove in a run Sunday in the 3-2 loss at Vermont. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The Futures Collegiate League All-Star break couldn’t come at a better time for the Nashua Silver Knights.

The Knights are literally limping into the three-day intermission, as they dropped their sixth straight game on Sunday, falling just short, 3-2 at the hands of the Vermont Lake Monsters before 2,907 at UVM’s Centennial Field.

Nashua is now 22-25, but still in third place in the FCBL as both Norwich and New Britain, the two other teams vying for the final two playoff spots, also lost.

Nashua actually outhit Vermont 7-6 and Vermont committed three errors to the Knights’ one. The locals grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fifth as James Benestad singled and eventually scored on Matt Jackson’s RBI single.

But Vermont, working against new Silver Knights starter Nigel Cross, took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning, both runs unearned as an error by shortstop Chase Roberts opened the frame off the bat of Jeremy Sosa. Sosa later scored the tying run on a Tyler Harmony two-out single, and Sam Cavossa’s RBI single plated Nolan Colby, who had walked.

Vermont, now 30-16 and in second, made it a 3-1 game when Knights newcomer and Bishop Guertin alum Sam Franco plunked Colby to start the seventh and he eventually scored on Harmony’s second RBI single with two out.

Franco pitched well – two hits, one run, three strikeouts, zero walks in 2.1 innings. But that run proved costly:

With their backs against the wall, the Knights rallied, trying to steal a win on the road. Brenden Walsh would get the ninth inning started with a single, and he would later be driven in by Benestad to cut the lead to just one. Nashua would get the bases loaded with two outs; however, Vermont closer Sean Gamble was able to close the door as he got Patrick Shrake to ground out to end the game.

Nashua will have to take on Vermont a third straight time coming out of the break Thursday at Holman Stadium. Note, game time is 7 p.m. to accommodate the NESN broadcast. That will be Nashua’s only home game over the next two weeks, until Saturday, August 2.

This was Nashua’s final trip to Vermont of the regular season.

(Silver Knights Media Relations Staffer Jake Loomis contributed to this report.)