Nashua catcher Ben Peterson tags out New Britain's Owen Rich on a double steal attempt at the plate during Friday night's FCBL game at Historic Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They certainly aren’t perfect, but the one thing the 2026 Nashua Silver Knights are is resilient.

That was certainly on display for a Fireworks Night crowd of 1,498 at Historic Holman Stadium as the Knights recovered from blowing a 6-1 lead to beat the New Britain Bees 9-6.

Not only that, Nashua showed lots of life, bouncing back from Wednesday’s doubleheader sweep here at the hands of Vermont. Not to be overly dramatic but it’s possible a loss last night after holding what the 18-18 Knights had to feel was a comfortable lead would have put things in crisis mode.

“I said a month ago, the resiliency,” Silver Knights manager Nick Guarino said. “Get up big, they (the Bees) come back and punch you in the face. Go back on the field and win a baseball game.”

And that’s what they did, maintaining their spot in the FCBL’s top four going into today’s 5 p.m. game at Lowell.

The Silver Knights looked comfortable, getting four innings of one-run ball from starter Will Perkowski, and then erupted for four runs in the fourth on two-run singles by Hunter Troiano and Ben Peterson. They also tacked on a run in the fifth on a Nate Kearney RBI single, and it was 6-1. Fun times.

But not so fast. Bees don’t like to be bothered, and they feasted on Knights fielding miscues for three unearned runs in the sixth and another in the seventh. It was a tough night defensively for Kearney at first and Caleb Vacchiano at third.

“That’s Nate’s first game back in a week, eight days,” Guarino said. “He had three hits, two runs scored and an RBI, that’s all I care about. He’ll figure it out in the field, first game back live reads, and got cleared to play this morning.”

Indeed, alls well that ends well, because the Bees handed things right back in the bottom half of the seventh. One-out singles by Peter Keblinsky and Kearney followed by a hard shot off Bees reliever Matthew Shea (0-1) off the bat of Knights Mason Wilson scored Keblinsky with what proved to be the winning run. Wilson, a Penn State incoming freshman from Randolph, N.J., was playing in just his third game and went 2 for 2, reaching base four times and had his big RBI with two runs scored. Not bad, huh?

“He’s just a gamer, he goes out there and plays hard,” Guarino said. “Very receptive to the coaching and and what we’re trying to do. It’s a lot learning how to play college baseball, but it’s fun to watch, he’s a good guy to have. He’s into it, he’s pumped up for it. It’s nice to have a guy like that.”

It it was nice to have a reliever like Jameson Dobis, who calmed things down with 1.1 innings of clean, scoreless relief. Aaron Forgues pitched the ninth for his fourth save, aided by a 6-4-3 double play.

Both teams had 10 hits and three errors. Winning the tough ones is what the manager says will create a good mindset.

“Those games,” Guarino said, “are going to help us in August when we’re in the playoffs. It’s nice to be in them and then to win them is huge.”

The Silver Knights left no doubt as to who they felt last night’s Player fo the Game was. (Photo/Graphic courtesy of Silver Knights)

NOTES

Nigel Cross gets the start today vs. Lowell, but remember, with his innings limits, he will likely only go three and then the Knights will turn to the bullpen. “We’ll figure it out,” Guarino said. “We’ll be OK.”…

During the game, the Knights recognized Nashua American Legion James E. Coffey Post #3 and Nashua VFW Post 483 member Richard Mohrmann, who turns 101 years young today. Mohrmann served in World War II and earned a Bronze star. He received a standing ovation…

Nashua is back home on Sunday at 3 p.m. The opponent? Let’s play it again, New Britain.