Will Perkowski bears down as he delivers a pitch during Friday night's Silver Knights FCBL game at Lowell in the long-awaited return of the Spinners. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

LOWELL, Mass. – It was a historic night for the newest Futures Collegiate Baseball League franchise Friday, but the Nashua Silver Knights decided to bring their own spin.

They decided to use the crowd of 5,125 that came out to see the return of the Lowell Spinners to their advantage, leaving LeLacheur Park with a 5-3 win.their first of the 2026 season.

“I told them ‘If you can’t get fired up for 5,000, you can’t get fired up for anything,'” Silver Knights manager Nick Guarino said. “They wanted to come in and play, which was nice. It’s been good energy the last three games.”

A lot of that energy last night belonged to Connor Smith, who went 4 for 5 and delivered a two-run double in the second that snapped a 2-2 tie and gave Nashua a lead (4-2) it wouldn’t relinquish.

“It was great, I’ve never played in front of a crowd like that,” the Pittsburgh native said. “My approach at the plate was trying to be on time. Been attacking a lot of fastballs recently, as long as I’m on time, staying inside the ball, especially with that left-hander up there (Lowell starter xxxx), that’s all I’m trying to do.

“This atmosphere was great, trying to get on the board and spoil their home opener. That was great. I had a fun time.”

Guarino moved Smith down from the leadoff spot to the No.3 hole, and it worked as they moved Hunter Troiano into the leadof spot.

“We figured let’s move him down, switch him and Hunter, get some guys on for traffic, and it ended up working out for us, which is good,” Guarino said.

Troiano drew one of two walks that set the table for Smith, who inside-outed a Chris Klueber pitch that landed down the right field line.

After a lot of pre-game festivities that included the introduction of former Spinnes and Silver Knights owner Drew Weber, Nashua had taken a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Nate Kearney delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded. But Knights starter Will Perkowski made his only real blemish in the bottom half of the frame when Lowell cleanup hitter Lorenzo Camilleri sent 3-1 offering over the wall in right to the delight of the crowd.

But that was it; Lowell’s only other run came on a wild pitch in the seventh. By that point Nashua had built a three-run lead when Smith scored on a fielder’s choice in the top half of the inning that made it 5-2.

But the Spinners left the bases loaded twice when Knights reliever Brody Bump got Lowell’s Brett McKinnon to fly out to right and in the eighth when Nashua native Brandon Metivier escaped with the Spinners’ Charlie Beauegard to ground out to second.

Tommy Martorano pitched a one-two-three ninth for his first save. Guarino was impressed with how Perkowski got over the first inning, striking out six in four innings of work.

“Perkowski was great, settled in really well after the first inning,” Guarino said. “For a guy who hasn’t pitched really all spring, went 80 something pitches, which was great.”

Over5,000 fans braved the light rain to see the return of the Lowell Spinners as an FCBL team Friday night at LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

A key has been the fact the Knights, who have had a lead in all three of their games, held on to one this time as they outhit Lowell 9-5.

“We’re not striking out a bunch,” Guarino said. “Guys have good approaches; again we’re just missing pitches early in the counts that they should be hitting; we just told them, ‘Hey, let’s try to work on that the next couple of games here.”

And the next one will be against these same Spinners when Nashua has its first night game tonight at 6:03 p.m.

“We’re super talented in this locker room, I’ve known that since first practice,” Smith said. “It’s been great to finally see one in the win column.”

“Now we’re getting into the swing of things,” Guarino said. “Night game tonight, our Opening Night, same deal, now we roll.”