He may look safe, but Nashua's Connor Smith (26) was ruled tagged out by Norwich catcher JP Kuczik during Thursday night's FCBL game at Historic Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The time is beginning to run out on the Nashua Silver Knights playoff hopes and so may be the optimism.

That’s because the Knights on Thursday night suffered their toughest loss of the season – and they’ve had a lot of them – at the hands of the team they’re chasing for the final FCBL playoff spot, the Norwich Sea Unicorns. Somehow a 6-1 Nashua lead midway through the game became a 7-6 loss that puts the Knight 2.5 games behind the three-time defending FCBL champs.

The huge controversy was in the top of the eighth when Norwich’s Jackson Powers hit a double down the left field line that may or may not have been fair and plated the tying and winning runs off reliever Josh Martino. Silver Knights manager Nick Guarino was ejected after arguing the fair-foul call that had 1,270 up in arms as well.

“The people on the line, people I know, told me it was foul,” Guarino said. “He seemed to tell me it was fair by way more than everyone else was saying. … I told the ump I wasn’t going back in the dugout, and that’s when he threw me out.”

Guarino had the righty Martino pitch to the lefty-hitting Powers, despite lefty Mike Crowley ready and waiting in the pen. The reason: Crowley is allowing lefties to hit .400 off him.

“We liked it there numbers wise, just trying to play matchups,” Guarino said. “It doesn’t work out, of course, like it hasn’t much of the year.”

The frustration is showing. Nashua is now 22-29 while Norwich moved to 24-26. A win would have pulled the Knights within a half game of the final spot. Instead they now chase.

The problem once again was a bullpen that shows no Nashua lead is safe. On successive Sundays, the pen blew 10-4 leads. Last night, Nashua got a two-run homer to the picnic area in left by newcomer Adam Regan, a three-run double by Caleb Vacchiano, and Phoenix Williams RBI single to lead 6-1 after six.

But they gave most of that back when the Sea Unicorns’ swords were mightier than the Nashua pen; a four-run uprising keyed by two-RBI singles by Powers and Jake Howlett in the seventh brought Norwich to within 6-5, the runs charged to reliever Zak Lussier of Hollis. And then came the seventh and FoulGate.

But consider this: At one point 23 straight Norwich at-bats were without a ground ball, anything hit was in the air.

Nashua allowed 14 hits, nine by the pen, six by Lussier. It all ruined a superb start (one run, five hits) by Malcolm Klingler, done after he walked the leadoff hitter in the sixth.

“We don’t strike guys out out of the bullpen any more,” Guarino said. “It’s hard.”

So the way the Knights are trying to combat that is have its offense be its strength.

“We were up 6-1 in that game,” Guarino said. “We should be able to put up one or two more and do it that way.”

But Nashua had the leadoff men on in both the eighth and ninth innings but nothing happened. In the eighth Regan curiously sacrifice bunted – a hitter who had homered and walked his previous two at-bats. Guarino was watching from the office but didn’t know if the bunt was called for or if Regan did it on his own.

Meanwhile, the manager is trying his best to remain optimistic. The Norwich radio broadcast already has the Sea Unicorns magic number to clinch at seven. Ugh.

“They’ve got a tough weekend, and it’s Worcester, New Britain and us,” Guarino said of the Norwich schedule. “If we beat Westfield tomorrow. … and win Sunday and Monday, you’re down to a half game. … You’ve got to keep playing.

“But you kind of expect it now. Once you get to the seventh inning it’s like,’Here it comes again’.

“But again, we’re only two-and-a-half back, we take care of business against them – you beat them twice, you just need one more team to help you out in the last nine. Stay positive with it, you never know what the hell can happen.”