Nashua Silver Knights infilelder Mike Villani tries to tag out Norwich's T.J. Baer at second duirng Saturday's July 4 holiday FCBL game at Historic Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Where were you the day Connor Smith stole home at Historic Holman Stadium?

Well a four-figure July 4 crowd can gladly say they were right there at HHS watching Smith, arguably the Nashua Silver Knights’ best player, creep down the third base line before going full speed to catch the Norwich Sea Unicorns off-guard in the bottom of the sixth for a much-needed 4-3 Nashua win.

It was something Smith, the Pittsburgh native, has never done before in his baseball career.

Let’s set the stage. Smith boomed a double with one out in the bottom of the sixth in a 3-3 game to the deepest part of Holman, dead center. He stole third, taking off before what was a wild pitch uncorked by Sea Unicorns pitcher Adam Carpenter, so he had the base anyway. After Carpenter fanned Hunter Troiano for a big second out, Smith decided to take matters into his own hands after running it by Knights third base coach Steve Mooney.

“I know Mooney loves to be aggressive, especially with two outs, seven inning game, we had to take chances,” Smith said. “I looked out, and (Carpenter) was declaring windup, triple pumping, not looking. I said if he gets to two (strikes) I’m going, why not? And (Mooney said) ‘Yeah, I love it.'”

So Smith started creeping down the line. And gestured to the hitter, Mike Villani, hoping he wouldn’t swing.

“It was OK, Mikey, it’s up to you, my life is in your hands,” Smith chuckled. “It was pretty awesome, especially the situation we were in. Lost two in a row, good games, we’ve been playing really well, just to get a win in the column felt great.”

And the Silver Knights were able to enjoy the rest of the holiday after the morning contest, and also today, a day off before they come back to host rival Lowell on Monday night.

“Good read by him,” said Silver Knights manager Nick Guarino, his team now back to .500 at 16-16. “He told Mooney if it gets to two strikes, he thinks he has it. (Carpenter) is pretty slow in his windup, and looks down for couple of seconds.”

And an immediate response to Guarino’s plea after Friday night’s loss at Lowell for smarter baseball.

“Good read by him, good baseball play, high IQ,” Guarino said with a grin. “Talked about it (Friday) night. Not a lot of IQ plays, today we made a high IQ play, and it worked out. And that’s how you win a game.”

And a big game, as Nashua strengthened its now mid-season tenuous hold on the fourth and final playoff spot, as the Sea Unicorns fell to 14-18 (two-game lead)

“It was a gutsy move and it worked out,” Norwich manager and former Silver Knight reliever Zach Gitschier said. “Two strikes, two outs, I’m watching him creep, and I’m going to own it. We’ve got a young guy on the mound and I should have told him to step off (the rubber), but at the same time, two strikes, if that (the throw home) is a strike, it’s strike three, he doesn’t score. … He (Smith) is legit. He’s a very good baseball player. It was a gutsy move, he had the jump.”

There were some other good plays by the Silver Knights. Starter Nigel Cross – nearing his school mandated innings limit for the season – was effective for his three innings of work despite giving up a first-inning RBI single to Matt Park.

Nashua tied it in the third on a Smith RBI single, and plate two more in the inning on a Jordan Welch sac fly and Troiano RBI single.

The Sea Unicorns, however, tied it with two in the fifth on a Jackson Powers bases-loaded sac fly and Jacob Snyder’s RBI infield hit.

This graphic shows the day the Silver Knights’ Connor Smith had Saturday in stealing home to beat Norwich at Holman Stadium. (Photo/graphic courtesy of Nashua Silver Knights)

After Smith’s steal gave the Knights the lead, they had to hold on for dear life. Closer Aaron Forgues gave up a leadoff double to Norwich’s Mike Fiatarone, and he moved to third on a ground out. With the infield in, Villani cut down the Sea Unicorn at the plate on a grounder off the bat of Taylor Kaufman.

Nashua was not out of the woods yet. Jackson Powers blooped a single to put runners at first and second but Park grounded out to end it.

Whew.

“We knew if we could get to (Forgues) we’d be in a good spot,” said Guarino, who was also impressed with Windham’s Josh Martino pitching a scoreless sixth. “That’s our guy. Comes in, competes, gets in the zone, we’re comfortable with him in every ninth (or last) inning.”

A big win.

“It’s huge going into the weekend,” Guarino said. “It would sucked to win five and then lose three in a row, be sour for the rest of the holiday and weekend. … We’re playing good baseball, just got to eliminate the mental mistakes. And today you win a game.”

Such a steal.