Vermont catcher Tommy McAndrews can only look on as Jack McDerott's teammates mob him after his solo homer in the third inning of Friday night's FCBL game at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Where were you for Jack McDermott Night Friday at Holman Stadium?

If you weren’t one of the 1,528 fans at the Nashua Silver Knights’ 5-2 steamy triumph over the Vermont Lake Monsters, well, then you missed arguably the season’s best performance.

McDermott had himself a time. The Amherst College infielder reached base five times, had four hits including a homer with four RBIs, got himself thrown out at home standing up, but also started two 4-6-3 double plays – one sprawled out on the infield dirt.

You’d like to think the arrival of his 2022 partner in crime, Kyle Wolff, triggered this as the two had teamed up for the championship winning rally vs. Vermont last August. But no, because coming into the game McDermott was hitting .412 in his last nine games with five RBIs and seven runs scored.

“He’s a great kid,” Silver Knights manager Kyle Jackson said. “He just does his job. He just tries to get base hits,and put the ball in play and give himself a chance.”

“Baseball, you know,” McDermott said. “Finding three holes in the infield. Any other day. … Yesterday I barreled one up and it got caught at the wall. A little bit of luck, a little bit of bat to the ball.”

In the bottom of the first, it looked like McDermott would score from second on a Wolff base hit but Vermont left fielder Tommy Martin gunned him down at the plat, McDermott not even sliding.

“I got there, he had the ball and was completely blocking it already,” McDermott said. “There was really now room to slide, so I tried to do a little juke around or hop over him. It got there a little too quick.”

No matter, next inning he took a 3-1 offering from the Monsters’ Silas Reed and put it in the left field picnic area. Finally, someone targeted the brick wall.

In the fifth, after Luca Giallongo doubled and stole third, McDermott reached on a throwing error by Vermont second baseman Khal Coney, although he got the RBI as Giallongo was scoring anyway. Wollf got plunked with the bases loaded to make it 3-1.

Then McDermott shot a base hit up the middle in the eighth with the bases loaded to give Nashua a 5-1 cushion.

Silver Knights infielder Jack McDermott is into his home run trot after his solo shot to left field Friday night vs. Vermont at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

That was on offense. Defensively, with Vermont threatening, he started a 1-4-6-3 double play off a deflection, ending the threat with energized reliever Zach Gistchier having just come in. But he saved his best for last, as he lunged to knock down a ball off the bat of Tommy McAndrews after Vermont had put two on with nobody out vs. Knights reliever Will Ray. Somehow while sprawled on the ground he managed to flip the ball to shortstop Brady O’Brien who fired hard to first to complete the DP to the roar of the crowd. Ray fanned Antonio Perrotta to end the inning.

Vermont (24-13), which had led 1-0 on Jack Winnay’s solo homer to left off Nashua starter Nik Copenhaver, scored a meaningless run in the ninth as Ray earned the save. Brandon Hsu got the win with two scoreless innings of relief (fourth, fifth).

But McDermott, now hitting .297 on a team that has struggled offensively, drove the victory bus in a hard-fought game.

“They play hard every game,” Jackson said. “It’s nice to see things turning around for the guys considering how hard they’ve played for the whole season. They’ve never given up, always given 110 percent every game. Nice to get in the win column.”

When’s the McDermott bobblehead coming out?

“Jack’s one of my best friends on the team,” said Wolff, who had been idle after a couple of spots didn’t work out and connected with GM Cam Cook. “A helluva game, oh my God. I couldn’t be more happier for him.”

NOTES

You’ll likely see a lot of Ray and Gitschier out of the pen in tough spots going forward as lefty closer George Welch, Jackson said, will undergo an MRI on his left arm, apparently injuring it somehow during his July 4 save performance. That would be a big loss…

Farewell Albert De La Rosa. The former Nashua South standout hasn’t played in the last few games and left the team as a result, Jackson said. “That’s two years in a row,” he said…

Nashua is away all weekend, at Norwich tonight with Braydon Gray taking the mound at 6:30, and then they visit Pittsfield on Sunday. After an off day Monday, Vermont visits Holman again on Tuesday at 6 p.m.