NASHUA — If Bedford’s Sean and Connor Lyons had patrolled the outfield for him at Nashua High South rather than against him for Trinity of Manchester, B.J. Neverett might have deployed an unorthodox defense.

“I always said Trinity should have gone with two outfielders and then used five infielders,” Neverett said last week. “(The Lyonses) could do the work of three high school outfielders.”

He was at least half-kidding. Given the opportunity to try the strategy this summer, Neverett has gone the traditional route, with the Lyons brothers making up only two-thirds of the starting outfield for the Nashua Silver Knights, defending champions of the eight-team Futures Collegiate Baseball League.

Still, the first-year Silver Knights manager credits the Lyonses with playing a major role in helping Nashua pitchers compile a 2.15 team ERA while allowing just 142 runs (100 earned) and 340 hits in 419 1/3 innings.

“A lot of that has to do with the outfield taking away hits with their speed and range,” Neverett said.

Teammates at Northeastern University as well as for the Silver Knights, the Lyons brothers have been patrolling outfields together since since their tee-ball days. They’re hoping this will be their first championship together after coming close as Bedford Little Leaguers (they won the District I title but fell to Rye in the state final) and as high school players at Trinity (they reached the Class L title game, only to fall to Merrimack).

The Knights (36-12 with two regular-season games to play) will enter the FCBL semifinals this weekend as the playoffs’ No. 1 seed.

Younger brother Connor, 20, has been one of the Knights’ offensive catalysts, as well as their starting center fielder. He ended the weekend with a .296 batting average, a .379 on-base percentage and a team-high 19 stolen bases.

Sean, 21, was batting just .227 but had a .442 OBP while dividing his time between left field and the pitcher’s mound, where he had allowed just two hits and no runs in eight innings of relief.

While the Lyons brothers — both at 5 feet 7 inches — have supplied the outfield’s speed, 6-foot 3-inch Jon Minucci, of Southern New Hampshire University, has brought the thunder, totaling team highs of 11 home runs and 34 RBI.

“We could do a championship this summer,” said Sean Lyons, 14 months older than his brother. “It never gets old playing with Connor. We’ve ended up playing together forever. It’s seems like he’s always following me.”

As kids, they were regular-season and all-star teammates in Little League and youth-soccer leagues. They played both sports for a year in high school before giving up soccer to become football running backs. with Connor eventually setting school rushing and scoring records.

“We learned everything together — and got along most of the time,” Connor said. “We pushed each other to be the best.”

Sean broke his leg playing football during his senior season at Trinity. He rehabbed feverishly to gain clearance for springtime baseball, and though still hobbling, he made the 2009 New Hampshire Union Leader All-State Team.

To fully heal, he red-shirted his freshman season at Northeastern, where he learned that Huskies coach Neil McPhee intended to recruit his brother, a 2010 Union Leader All-State selection. Connor found instant success at the college level, batting .365 before heading off to play summer ball in Hawaii while Sean, by then nursing a broken hand, opted to play the inaugural FCBL season for Nashua.

While rooming together this past season at Northeastern, Connor hit .263 and Sean made 10 relief appearances.

“We are both really competitive but get along OK because we get our aggressions out on the field,” said Connor. “We’re usually mellow when together off the field.

“We grew up playing the game. It’s a part or our relationship, and this summer’s been a blast,” he added. “Winning solves everything, even aspects of a brother rivalry.”

The brothers have helped bring a sense of family cohesiveness to the Silver Knights. Fellow outfielder Justin Castro, a late-innins defensive specialist from the University of California Irvine, is even living at the Lyonses’ Bedford home.

Now, as they near the postseason, the Lyonses and their teammates would like to share one more thing: the FCBL title.

eemmerling@unionleader.com