He couldn’t wait to get to Holman Stadium.

Nashua Silver Knights manager Nick Guarino was like a fish out of water for much of the month of May. His Southern Connecticut University season where he’s on the coaching staff ended May 3. He had no baseball for three weeks, and it felt like three months.

“I’ve been off for a month, so I’m excited to get back on a field,” he said. “Once we got out (at Southern) I said, ‘I’ve got to get to Nashua.'”

And Monday was the first day of school, on a holiday, no less.

“Lot of good kids, everybody seems comfortable, guys inside (the clubhouse) were getting to know each other,” Guarino said. “We kind of knew what we had. Guys have played a lot this spring, compared to last year when we had guys that didn’t play as much or redshirted. We don’t have any guys like that. Guys that played 40, 50 games, started every day … That was the goal this year, get guys who played.

“I think it’s guys who have been playing baseball for the last five, six months. I think that’s the biggest factor.”

And they didn’t have the down time Guarino did.

“Guys fresh off conference tournaments,” he said. “Guys that just got beat on Saturday, drove up here Sunday for Monday. I think it’s guys who are fresh and ready to go.”

Guarino is thrilled. It’s Year Two under his on-field watch, and last year that was going so well didn’t end well, a depressing 2-17 stretch that knocked them out of playoff contention. In retrospect, he and general manager Cam Cook realized that near the end of July it was an exodus of players for one reason or another. That’s against the manager’s religion, for lack of a better term. Who the heck wants to leave a baseball field?

So that’s why when asked if he could have done anything differently, Guarino answered quickly “Try to get guys to stay.”

There’s a couple of schools of thought. Guarino chose the one in which if a player didn’t want to be here, no sense in keeping him.

“Now, looking back, maybe try to convince those guys to stay,” he said. “I wanted guys to be here. … That’s the biggest thing. I want guys to stay all summer. A 90 percent retention rate. I’ve got 40 guys, I want at least 34 to be here at the end of the season.”

Silver Knights players and staff listen to orientation talks by team owner John Creedon, Jr. and general manager Cam Cook during an organization cookout on Monday at Holman Stadiuim. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Part of the problem is players are shut down by their college coaches, or are recovering from injuries. So Guarino and Cook have taken the route in which, fine, we’ll take you on the back end. Come six weeks in, etc.

“We convinced a couple of guys to come later in the year rather than leave earlier,” he said.

Not a bad approach. We’ll see how that works. It’s certainly one way to fight the divide between schools and summer ball philosophy.

Meanwhile, Guarino knows how he was a year ago as the guy in charge for the first time, and isn’t afraid to change some of his approach.

“This year I’m a little more loose with the guys first day, trying to get everyone comfortable and acclimated,” Guarino said with a smile. “A little more friendly. …

“Every year you learn more and more,” You never know everything.”

The manager found out what he didn’t know a year ago. But one thing he does know: Holman is where he wants to spend his summer, and he hopes come mid-July his players end up feeling the same way.

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