On Friday May 13 the Knights began the district championship against Monroe Express Bronx. It was game one of the best of three series in Trinity Stadium in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Knights defeated Monroe Express 9 to 1.
First pitch was at 11:02 AM Jayden Volker of Coventry, R.I., was on the mound for Northern Essex.
Volker give up a run in the bottom of the first inning on a wild pitch that got away from the catcher Lucas Berube of Dighton.
The Knights did not score in the first inning with 2 outs. Chris Bear of Boston was out on second trying to stretch a s single into a double for the final out of the inning.
In the top of the second inning Volker bounced back after his first inning performance as he pitched a 1,2,3 inning.
In the bottom of the second inning Jarred Coppola of Lynn hit a base hit to lead off the second. Richard Matos De La Cruz of Boston ground out to a double play. Clay Campbell of Goffstown, N.H., hit a triple and scored on an error to tie the game at 1.
In the top of the third inning Volker retired the three batters that he faced.
In the bottom of the third the Knights had a couple men on base with two outs when Nicholas White of Townsend hit a fly ball to left field to end the inning as the Knights wasted an opportunity.
In the top of the fourth inning with two strikes Volker hit Joseph Rosario of New York with one out in the inning. Berube threw the ball to center field and Rosario was safe on second. Ernie Farrell of Corona, N.Y., ground out to the second baseman for the second out of the inning as Rosario moved to third. Jose Arrieta of New Bedford bunted to the first baseman side as White stepped on the bag for for the third out of the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning the Knights went one, two and three as they did not score.
The game was tied one to one entering the fifth inning.
One out in the inning Volker gave up an opposite field double to Randy Diaz of Bronx, N.Y., and walked Ruben Ogando of Providence R.I. Monroe was threating first and second with one out that allowed Knights pitching coach Evan Glew to talk to Volker. Alex Rodriguez of North Syracuse, NY singled to load the bases when Volker picked up a huge strikeout striking out Juan Jorge of Bronx N.Y. for the second out of the inning. Volker made Rosario to chase on a 3-2 pitch as Monroe Express did not score.
On the bottom of the fifth inning Logan Burill of Amesbury walked to get things going for the Knights. Berube flied out to the catcher for the first out of the inning. While Kameron Levesque of Haverhill was batting the pitcher threw the ball away. That allowed Burill to go to second and Levesque hit a base hit to score the second Knights run. Richie Williams of Georgetown hit a base hit thru the third base side and the Knights had runners on second and third with one out when Chris Bear of Boston hit an inside the park three run home run to put the Knights on top 5-1. This was the Knights first lead of the game.
