The 2026 Silver Knights Tuesday practiced their dance to "The Love Is Gone", a staple for the first 15 years of the franchise in the middle of the sixth inning. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The owner didn’t mince words.

“Losing sucks,” Nashua Silver Knights owner John Creedon, Jr.said.

That right now is the only thing negative Creedon can say about his franchise as it’s the longest running franchise to call Historic Holman Stadium home.

“Sweet 16 this year, we’re super excited,” he said as the team was preparing to open up its 16th season this moring at 10:30 at Holman with the first of two Education Days. “This year feels fresh and new with the All-Star Game, we’re approaching the finish line for the lease extension with the city to sort of cement the future of the team here at Historic Holman Stadium. So new batch of players, some new host families.

“Just a lot to look forward to with some new ideas up our sleeve all summer long with promos, some new technology with the Trackman device.”

Today busses will drop off youths from area schools, with the gates opening at 9:45 a.m. Newfield’s Cam Piwinicki, who just finished a successful freshman year at Brown, will take the ball on the mound vs. the Vermont Lake Monsters.

But it’s a big year for the Knights. As Creedon alluded, it’s expected the team and city will sign a new long-term lease agreement, as talks had been ongoing all winter. Nashua will host the FCBL All-Star Game for the third time, and first since 2018, on July 21.

The addition of Lowell, with the rebranded Spinners, adds some flavor to the league, but also for Nashua, because of the connection between the franchises. Former Lowell Spinners owner Drew Weber created the Silver Knights at the behest of once and current Spinners chief (and former Knights president) Tim Bawmann.

“The Futures League has been trying to secure a team for LeLacheur (Park) for years,” Creedon said. “Everything finally aligned, we were having the right conversations with the right folks. … There are so many tie-ins between the Spinners glory days, Drew Weber,Tim Bawmann, Jon Goode and the Silver Knights. Lots of overlap. … There’s a lot of interest up here,and now we’ve got a built-in rival.”

The two teams meet for the first time on Friday night in Lowell’s big opener, and then the Spinners come to Nashua for the so-called second opener for the Silver Knights on Saturday, a home-and-home affair.

It’s all good – the tickets will be sold, the suites will be rented, including the newest one as the rennovated former press box down the left field line. There’s just one thing missing in Creedon’s mind:

Winning.

“I hate losing,” he said of the three-year stretch of missing the Futures League playoffs. “And we’ve been out of the playoffs far too long. We’re not just due, we’re overdo for some baseball success. That’s not lost on us.”

Creedon liked the work that Silver Knights General Manager Cam Cook and field manager Nick Guarino, starting his second season today, did in the off-season.

“They doubled down on their recruiting efforts,” Creedon said. “We’re really excited about the roster that they assembled. And it’s nice to have some continuity back with the coaching staff. We’ll see what kind of special baseballs success we can have.”

Creedon knows it’s a different world than the one that helped the Silver Knights produce six championships in the first 12 years of the FCBL.

“The landscape of college athletics and college baseball has changed dramatically,” Creedon said. “It’s a whole different game. It’s a whole different system of coaching and recruiting, keeping players, player attrition, whose watching these players – from college coaches to pro scouts. Now we’ve got both contingencies watching these players. We reformatted the All-Star Game as a result of what’s happening in college baseball.”

That will be a Prospect Game in Norwich at the end of June, prior to the MLB Draft.

“The best,” Creedon said, “is yet to come.”

VERSATILITY

The Silver Knights, as has been written, have a lot of middle infielders who started this past spring that can play all over the infield, not just in one spot.

“That was the goal,” Guarino said. “They can play everywhere. We kind of figured recruit from the middle out. We have a shortstop that can also play center field. We can move a shortstop to third base…We can move them around, mix and match, different positions, and get everyone in the lineup.”

LIONS CUP

There’s the Lions Cup some know for New Hampshire-Vermont soccer, but now there’s a Lions Cup for Silver Knights-Spinners baseball. The Lions Clubs from both Lowell and Nashua have donated a so-called Lions Cup that will go to the season series winner. They play each other 11 times, 10 in the first month-plus of the season, with the final meeting in Lowell a 10:30 a.m.camps game on July 29.

The Cup will be on display Saturday night at Holman.

MONKEY BOY, FLYING GRAVITY

It was thought Monkey Boy was making his final Holman Stadium appearance last year at the late June night honoring the Nashua Pride, but Chris Ames brings his beloved character back twice this season, Saturday night and also at the All-Star Game. Also Saturday, pre-game entertainment will be provided by Flying Gravity Circus, a circus-type act by a nonprofit youth organization promoting positive development in children and teens through comprehensive circus arts education.