Fans mingle with players after the Silver Knights' final game of the season this past weekend at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They kept showing up.

Despite the fact the Nashua Silver Knights suffered through a stunning season ending 2-17 tailspin, Holman Stadium was no ghost town.

The team had a surge of four-figure crowds down the stretch, helping it to a franchise best season average of 1,625 – by one fan. Nashua, which averaged 1,624 in 2023, was third in attendance in the league, behind Vermont, which averaged well over 2,000 a game – 2,727 — and Worcester, which averaged 2,003 fans per game to go with its league record 45 wins.

The players certainly appreciated the support.

“Of course,” said infielder Patrick Shrake. “It’s awesome to look and see a crowd of people behind you. It means the world to everybody on the field that people are here to support us.”

Nashua GM Cam Cook, talking to the season ticket holders/host families at a pre-game gathering on Saturday, thanked the fans after the tough second half of the season.

“I want to thank everybody for the support you give us every single year, no matter how good or bad our season goes,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine ust how tough this year has been, but you’ve always had our backs.

“Thank you to the fans who have been with us since Day One and to the new faces we’ve welcomed along the way – we love having you here. We’re already looking forward to next year with more promos, more fun, and more great ideas from you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. I can’t thank you enough.”

“We all learned a lot this year,” Silver Knights owner John Creedon, Jr.said to the gathering. “Cam has been with us from Day One. I’m incredibly proud of him, and I believe he’ll take us back to the promised land.

“Even though it’s deflating, we have a standard of excellence here – both from a baseball and fan experience perspective.”

SHRAKE HONORED

Middle infielder Shrake, who finished the season leading the FCBL in hitting at .342, captured the William V. Neverett Team MVP Award, sponsored by the Nashua Lions Club. The award is named after the late longtime season ticket holder, also the father of former Knights manager and VP, B.J. Neverett, who was on hand for the presentation.

“It’s been a good summer,” said Shrake, who is from Chicago and plays at Colby College. “Nashua’s been awesome, they’ve had some good crowds here, and it’s been super fun to play with all these guys. I enjoyed it.”

Shrake said the last month of the season certainly wasn’t easy. “It was tough obviously, everybody wants to win,” he said. “But at the end of the day we’re coming out here with all these guys and making the most of it.”

Silver Knights middle infielder Patrick Shrake won the William J. Neverett award as the team’s MVP for the 2025 season. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

TEAM STATS

Nashua’s downfall was its offense, as shown by the fact it finished fifth in hitting at .235 with a .633 OPS, but last in runs scored with just 253 in 60 games.

That was also shown in the fact that after July 13, when the team won its last home game until this past weekend’s 2-1 season finale win at Holman, Nashua hit a woeful .191 with runners in scoring position. Prior to that the Knights were hitting .256 with runners in scoring position.

They were also next to last in homers with just 13, and the lack of gap hitting was obvious as the Knights hit just four triples all season, worst in the league by far.

The thing that kept the team afloat through the first half of the season was its pitching, seen by the fact it finished third with a team earned run average of 4.39. However, the Knights gave up the second most homers in the league with 26, two less than last-place Westfield’s 28. Nashua pitchers walked the second fewest – 234 – and struck out the second most, 502. Vermont had the most at 524. Nashua gave up the third fewest hits (485) and runs (311).

INDIVIDUAL STAT HIGLIGHTS

Ernie Little played just 23 games due to injury, and ended up hitting .402. Shake was the top hitter among the regulars, and among the rest of the regulars, Cole Patterson hit. 242 with 23 stolen bases, hitting either ninth, as he was for the first half of the season, and leadoff, as he often did after Little went down with his bad back.

Jack Balcer, who left after 32 games – and was sorely missed – led the team with 10 doubles. Joey Current and Nashua native River Hart led the team with three homers. Hart played in only 23 games and was done by early July with turf toe, while two of Current’s homers came in one game on June 1. This team was completely devoid of power.

As for pitching, starter Andrew Chenevert (5-3, 4.43) and reliever Brandon Metivier (5-1, 3.85) led the Knights in wins. The two were among six tied for the league lead in wins.

Metivier, another native Nashuan, also had two saves and closed out his Silver Knight career with the win in the season finale. Another reliever, Rob Gilchrist, led Nashua on ERA with 1.24., but he only had 11 appearances.

The starter Nashua missed the most was Matt Fitzgibbon, who the team knew had a limited number of starts for the season imposed by his school, St. Joseph’s (Pa.). He went 2-1, 2.63 in six starts.

(Silver Knights media relations staffer Jake Loomis contributed to this report.)