We are officially declaring winter to be over.

Let’s face it, with the uncertainty of the weather around here, it really doesn’t feel like we’re safe from Mother Nature’s frosty clutches until the Nashua Silver Knights take the hallowed infield and outfield at Historic Holman Stadium.

That takes place this Wednesday morning, beginning what the team hopes is a near three-month stretch (if playoffs) of Futures Collegiate League baseball here and away. It’s the first of two Education Day games at 10:30 at HHS in the span of seven days.

Yes, the high schools have played in Holman for over a month, but let’s face it, two-thirds of the games you needed your winter coats and ski hats. Brrrrr. That should be over now that its Knightstime.

We could have used them here this weekend, right?

This is not your ordinary Silver Knights season. Sweet 16 sees the city of Nashua put Holman back on display for the annual FCBL All-Star Game. That, fans, is a big deal. It’s an extra task, certainly, for general manager Cam Cook and his staff but one he welcomes since he’s never seen an All-Star Game at Holman but has played in them elsewhere. The last time Nashua hosted the event was also special, 2018, as the game was woven into Holman’s 80th birthday celebration.

Another special aspect of this season is the arrival of Lowell, the re-branded Spinners, which has certainly created a buzz and brought the return of one of the league’s and Silver Knights’ founding fathers, Tim Bawmann to run the franchise. It was Bawmann and his right hand man, master promoter Jon Goode, who convinced then-Spinners owner Drew Weber to get in on a new summer collegiate baseball league and place a team in Nashua. The Spinners and Silver Knights, who back in the early years of the FCBL used to play each other in an annual mid-June exhibition, will now play in a lot of games that count. The home opener in Lowell this coming Friday will be a big regional event, because it’s the return of Spinners baseball to a city that has been starving for it since the end of the 2019 season. And the Silver Knights will be a part of it.

The third major ingredient of the

Silver Sweet Sixteen Season: the drive to end a three-year playoff drought, almost unheard of for the last of the league’s original franchises that has won the most championships (six).

But it’s a different league now. Norwich now rules the roost with three straight titles, and it’s a franchise that survived a possible ouster after the city scrapped plans to sell Dodd Stadium and instead is welcoming a new professional soccer team in February that will share time with the schools and Sea Unicorns.

Here, we were so fortunate we don’t have that issue. The Silver Knights are the longest running franchise to call Holman home. They are beloved, keep things fresh, and the novelty simply doesn’t wear off when they provide someplace to go to and enjoy seeing on a nice summer night. There will always be a demand for that at Holman because the combined 25 years or so of the Nashua Pride and Silver Knights have spoiled us.

Cook and field manager Nick Guarino have put a lot of time into getting quality players to help end the drought. It’s bothered Cook to no end the entire off-season.

He knows that there are nights when the fans will show up because of the entertainment value, the promotions, the fireworks, etc.

“But when it’s a Tuesday, and it’s (just) the Holman faithful, and they’re like ‘This sucks’, I don’t blame them. I love that they are like that,” Coo said. “We’re a developmental league, guys come and go, it is what is – I like that winning matters.”

Norwich a year ago pulled a Nashua. They were languishing around .500 and benefited by Nashua’s 2-17 demise the season’s final month, made the playoffs and the Sea Unicorns won their third straight Futures League title. Amazing.

That’s what some of the Nashua teams managed by B.J. Neverett did 10 years ago.

But the thing that’s unique about the FCBL is that every season is different. There are only a handful of Knights back from last year; the majority of the players who are reporting Monday don’t have any idea of that tough final month.

Opening with an Education Day game for the second straight season isn’t a bad idea. Cook, a great Silver Knights player, has become an astute GM with business acumen. It’s been great growth to see.

“I don’t mind it, because a Wednesday is not the ideal day (for drawing fans) anyway,” he said. “So if we can make it a 10:30 a.m.game and fill it with kids, I’d rather do that than have 500 people here.”

So head over to Holman, and wish the Nashua Silver Knights a a happy Sweet 16. See you there.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X @Telegraph _TomK.