Nashua's Phoenix Williams dives back toward first hoping to get there before the tag by New Britain first baseman Jace Dunn during Sunday's FCBL game at Historic Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Woof.

There was a lot of barking late in the Nashua Silver Knights contest vs. New Britain at Historic Holman Stadium on Sunday on Bark In the Park Day, but it didn’t help in what was a tough 7-6 loss to the Bees.

“We played good enough to win a game, and we also played bad enough to lose a game,” Silver Knights manager Nick Guaarino said after Nashua, down 7-4 entering the ninth, scored twice and had the bases loaded with two out but couldn’t get the tie or the walk-off. “Should’ve won the game. The theme for us all summer is doing enough to lose a game and we did enough to lose the game today.”

The Knights (19-19) had a 4-2 lead and the home run bats going again (two, for eight in two days) going into the top of the seventh but the Bees struck for four runs and added another in the eighth to lead 7-4.

But in the ninth, Nashua’s Sam Gettinger put one over the brick wall in left to make it 7-5, and the rally continued with Hudson Story’s broken bat RBI single to make it 7-6 off reliever Dylan Swarts. Peter Keblinsky walked to load the bases and Caleb Vacchiano smoked one down the left field line that Bees third baseman James Fagnant had snared but couldn’t recover to make a play. Tie game, right?

Foul ball – much to the dismay of the mixed crowd of 1,438 human and four-legged fans. Vacchiano went on to fly out to end the game.

“Sure, the call is in the umpire’s hands but we put ourselves there,” said Guarino who admitted he couldn’t really tell for sure.

Down 1-0, Nashua got a two-run home run over the left field boards by Connor Smith – second straight at-bat with a round-tripper dating back to Saturday’s eighth inning in Lowell – and added a Mike Villani sac fly in the second and Phoenix Williams RBI single in the fifth for a 4-2 edge.

Surprisingly, Guarino and his staff decided to send starter Josh Florence out for the seventh, a rarity in this league and certainly for Nashua. But Florence gave up three straight hits to force his exit.

An errant pickoff attempt plated one run and Kacen Robinson’s RBI single off Knights reliever Neil MacKinnon tied it. Gettinger, the Nashua catcher, later threw wildly to third after Jace Dunn struck out and that gave the Bees a 5-4 lead. A wild pitch made it 6-4. Yep, woof.

Nico Amecangelo’s RBI single made it 7-4 in the eighth off reliever Brandon Metivier. Turns out that insurance was needed.

As for Florence, it was a case of a low pitch count and he had been pitching well, and if the team could squeeze one more inning out of him they could use their high-leverage relievers. The bullpen circle of trust is small right now.

“He was only at 70, he had been pitching pretty good and we were at the bottom of the lineup there,” Guarino said. “I feel pretty comfortable with our starter going back out there the way he was throwing. And again, we’ve had the problems with the guys coming out of the bullpen, we were trying to get it to the eighth and ninth so we could get it to the (Jameson) Dobises and the (Aaron) Forgueses. I’m not second guessing that – well, maybe a little bit at the end of the day.”

Silver Knights Josh Florence delivers a pitch during Sunday’s game vs. New Britain at HHS. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

A win yesterday would have been nice, but Nashua still has a half game lead in third over Worcester (19-20) and two-game lead over fifth place Norwich (17-21 ) which was blown away by Lowell 13-0 yesterday. The Knights will have huge games at Norwich on Tuesday and here vs. Worcester on Wednesday.

“We’re still in a good spot,” Guarino said. “We won the weekend and the week.”

Matt Donovan (0-1, 1.29) and Malcolm Klingler (1-3, 4.61) get the starts Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

SWAMP THINGS

With that being said, who gets the start in tonight’s exhibition vs. the Keene Swamp Bats at 6:03 at HHS? No one on the ‘A’ list, most likely. “Pitching’s going to be pitching,” he said. “We’ll mix and match. Guys can pitch one inning tomorrow and still go Tuesday. We’ll make it happen.”