The Silver Knights were back in action today. They were yet again on the road, this time traveling to Worcester for a game with the Bravehearts. In the two’s last matchup, the Knights won on a walk-off via the bat of Cole Patterson.
The Knights starter in this one was Nate Kelleher-Mochak, who was making his second start of the year. Kelleher-Mochak had a great first outing, and he would continue his momentum this summer with yet another great day. The Worcester starter in this one, however, was even better, as Reilly Weatherwax got the ball for the home side.
Weatherwax would start the gates strong also as in his three innings of work he only allowed two hits to Knights batters. Where he stood apart however is his ability to strike out batters as five of his nine outs were via the strikeout. Kelleher-Mochak would get into some trouble in the second however he was able to minimize it as he only allowed one run to come across and score. The Knights starter would go three more innings following this as his final line was 5 IP on 3 H, 1 ER with 4 SO.
This game would be a pitcher’s duel for the starters but also for the bullpens as Brennan Rumpf pitched two scoreless innings of work for the Knights following Kelleher-Mochak. The Bravehearts bullpen was also great as the combo of Jake LaFrancois and David Siciliano combined for four innings of work while not allowing a man to reach base.
In the eighth we would get more offense however as the Bravehearts got back on the board as newly brought-in Knights pitcher Nolan Mederos got into some trouble. Mederos was able to escape the jam in the eighth to keep the score at 2-0 Bravehearts heading into the ninth.
In the ninth the bottom of the Knights lineup put some pressure on the Bravehearts closer in Josh Fischer. Jordan Henriquez got on to start the inning via a walk. The next batter Joe Zorc would also get on with a single giving the visitors runners at first and second with nobody out. The next batter Cole Patterson would move both runners over with the top of the lineup in Ernie Little coming up.Following this the home side would make a call to the bullpen as they brought in Enger Paulino. With Little up Henriquez would score on a wild pitch to make it a one score game with only one out in the inning. Paulino would strike Little out for the second out of the inning. Jake Haarde was the knights last hope in this one and he would fly out to center field to end the game. The Knights would lose 2-1 but showed a lot of fight at the end of this one.
The team will head home and have a night game on Friday as they host the Norwich Sea Unicorns in front of an expected sellout crowd at Holman Stadium.
