Bees Rally in the Ninth for First Walk-Off of 2025

By Ben Bernstein

(New Britain, Conn.) – A ninth inning RBI single from Ryan Perez (Coastal Carolina/Greenwich, CT) gave the Bees a 3-2 win over the Nashua Silver Knights on a warm Friday night at New Britain Stadium.

The scoring began early as Nolan Risedorf (Southern New Hampshire/Barkhamsted, CT) just missed a second inning-grand slam, but knocked in Cam Righi (UConn/Wethersfield, CT) on a sac fly to make it 1-0. One inning later, Brennan Staubley (Southern CT State/Plainville, CT) lined an RBI double to the right field wall, bringing Colin Crowley (Winthrop/Southington, CT) in to score and extending the lead to 2-0. 

Jack Sheldon (Fairfield/Simsbury, CT) got the start for the Bees and had a solid outing, pitching the first four innings for the and only allowing three batters to get on base. This led into five straight scoreless innings with 14 strikeouts between the Bees and the Silver Knights.

After the Bees had control for the first eight innings, momentum turned around in the top of the 9th. With two outs and runners on first and second, a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third. An error followed, getting Nashua on the board at 2-1 This was followed up with a single, tying the game up at two.

In the bottom of the 9th, Easton Masse (Boston College/Manchester, CT) walked and PJ Hughes (Richmond/Manhattan, KS) pinch ran. The next two batters recorded a single and a strikeout respectively, sending Perez up to the plate with two outs. The second-year Bee lined a grounder straight up the middle for the walk-off hit, scoring Hughes for the game winning run.

The win pushes the Bees to 5-3 at home this season and snapped a mini two-game skid overall. Friday was also the third consecutive extra inning contest for New Britain. The Bees are back in action on Saturday night on the road in Norwich. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. from Dodd Stadium.