CHATHAM, Mass. — As the Brewster Whitecaps bullpen danced in a circle in center field and the high-five line began, manager Jamie Shevchik could finally take a deep breath and sigh of relief.
The Whitecaps (14-7-1) took a bounce-back win in Chatham, beating the Anglers 7-5 on Friday night. While the score indicated a close one, the fans still present almost witnessed a meltdown of epic proportions.
A portion of the Chatham faithful slowly exited the ballpark around the seventh inning, leaving a 6-0 game to enjoy the rest of their night. A seventh run for Brewster deterred even more fans from staying. Nonetheless, the Cape Cod Baseball League is ever-changing, and with that come blunders and poorly timed chaos.
Chatham (10-10-2) played pass-the-baton in the bottom of the eighth inning, getting a runner on and advancing already-existing baserunners throughout the frame. Vanderbilt’s own Nate Taylor took the mound to open the inning, and it wasn’t long before he was removed for Jordan Regulski.
Without Regulski to minimize the damage, Brewster’s well-played offensive showing could have been for nothing. It is uncommon for a team to allow a five-run inning and still take the victory home, not to mention on a night with four errors and twelve strikeouts. “A win is a win,” as Shevchik would say, and nothing in the rule book says how pretty it has to look.
“When you beat a team that is chasing you on your heels, it's like two wins,” Shevchik said. “Ultimately, you are gaining some separation with a win, and you are putting them in another spot in the loss column. It just amplifies everything.”
The Anglers sit seven points behind the Whitecaps, a razor-thin margin for an ever-changing team. Brewster has not lost on back-to-back days since June 15, avoiding the less-than-optimal feat thanks to some old-fashioned, gritty baseball. A five-game winning streak, as the ’Caps had before their loss to Yarmouth-Dennis on Friday, is a difficult thing to maintain.
“It can be hard to lock in for those big stretches,” Virginia Commonwealth catcher Jacob Lee said. “But I think this team has done a really good job at it and when we’re not focused and when we come out flat one game, we respond the next day.”
After going nine full innings without a run Wednesday, Brewster played restless to get on the board. With two outs and two free passes aboard, Terrence Kiel II broke baseball law and swiped third for his second stolen base of the inning.
The gutsy move paid off as Michael Torres, Cash Strayer and Kiel all scored on back-to-back-to-back singles. A wild pitch scored Jay Abernathy and the fourth run of the inning before the Anglers could finally put a stop to the merry-go-round.
The four-spot gave Brewster’s bullpen a cushion to work with, but that cushion nearly proved useless thanks to Chatham’s late-game explosion. While they did not know it at the time, the Whitecaps’ game-winning runs came the way plenty of their runs have come this summer: a Lee long ball.
“It has been a while since I had [a home run],” Lee said. “It definitely felt really good.”
As the first CCBL player to reach five homers, Lee holds a top-five OPS among qualified players. Among catchers, the gap widens further. The defensive toll Lee endures, particularly without a set starting pitching staff, is astonishing.
So far, outside of the five starting pitchers to open the season with Brewster, only two others have toed the rubber to open a Whitecaps defensive stand. Charlie Willcox made his second start of the year Wednesday, and Tate DeRias made his first start of the year Friday, making him the seventh pitcher to do so this season.
“I [didn’t] want to leave home but I came up here and it was a blast,” DeRias said with a smile. “I wake up excited every day and it is so fun. Coming out of the bullpen was good but now that I’m starting, it is a different vibe.”
While the Baylor righty fell behind at times, his zero runs allowed and four innings of quick, clean pitching fostered a boost that aided the offense’s early lead. Aside from Taylor’s missteps, the Whitecaps bullpen held together. Sebastian Santos-Olson, Zach Kmatz and James DeCremer helped keep Chatham quiet before its eighth-inning burst.
For Brewster, it was not a “perfect” win, if there even is such a thing. It was not even particularly clean. But after a shutout loss to Y-D, a near-collapse in Chatham trumps a loss in Chatham.
Baseball is a beautiful game as the Cape continues to remind its fans, but occasionally its uglier side comes out. The two division opponents seemingly raced to make mistakes the fastest, with Chatham failing the quickest and most en route to Brewster's ugly win.
A new winning streak could have started Friday, but only time will tell. If the streak picks up and Brewster takes stride again, no fan will mention the cleanliness of the initial victory. Merely that the Whitecaps collected the W.
The Whitecaps play at Cotuit at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Listen to the Whitecaps broadcast on Cape League TV or follow the game on Instagram (@brewsterwhitecaps) or X (@BrewsterCaps).
Matt Ford-Wellman can be reached at mfordwellman.media@gmail.com or on X @MattFW_4.
