The Nashua Silver Knights of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) benefitted significantly from the presence of former Londonderry High hardballers on their roster this summer.
The Silver Knights saw their 2015 summer campaign come to a close short of their championship goal in Connecticut Thursday night, Aug. 13, thanks to a shutout loss to the host Bristol Blues in the FCBL playoff.
Pitchers Ryan Moloney and Rob Del Signore played significant roles on the Silver Knights’ pitching staff, ending up first or second in a number of categories for the Nashua contingent, which posted an overall record of 29-29 in 58 contests.
The dynamic duo’s former LHS teammate Brett Evangelista joined the Gate City squad late in the season and appeared in 16 games, most of them as an outfielder.
The FCBL – which draws talent from college and university hardball programs across the nation – plays a 56-game regular season schedule, with 28 home and 28 away contests over a nine-week schedule that concludes in early August. The Nashua team’s home base is Holman Stadium.
Rubber-armed right-hander Moloney – who plays his college ball at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst along with Evangelista – ended up the losing pitcher in the Silver Knights’ season-ending, 7-0 loss to Bristol late last week.
The starting assignment in that playoff game was Moloney’s 11th of the season, a team high.
During the squad’s 28-28 regular season, the talented righty led the team in starts (10), innings pitched (52 2/3), and strikeouts (43), and was tied in victories with four. He exhibited his fine control by walking 16 batters all summer. He finished the regular season with a 4.61 earned run average.
Del Signore – who plays his college baseball at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester – finished his Silver Knights’ summer season second to Moloney in both starts with nine, and in strikeouts with 33. He registered an ERA of 4.53 over 43 2/3 innings of mound work.
Evangelista – who was also an impressive hockey player during his four years at Londonderry High – ending up taking 11 walks in 36 plate appearances for the Nashuans, driving in a couple of runs and stealing a pair of bases. He tallied a fielding percentage of .882.