FALMOUTH, Mass. — The Brewster Whitecaps found themselves in trouble again.

Two days after a ninth-inning collapse led to the Bourne Braves walking them off and one removed from not being able to fully complete their comeback against Cotuit Kettleers, ending with an anti-climactic tie, the team was flirting with defeat against the Falmouth Commodores.

A throwing error from Whitecaps third baseman Pete Daniel (Virginia Tech) put runners on second and third with two outs, driving them to walk Commodores two-hole hitter, center fielder Fabio Peralta (Miami), to load the bases, creating a force out at any base.

The downside to the strategy is that it forced Brewster’s right-handed relief ace Zach Kmatz (Oregon State) to be perfect. After a first-pitch ball, all the pressure was on the rising junior, but he battled to a 2-2 count before a deciding swing and miss.

Strike three. Ballgame. Whitecaps back in the win column.

By the skin of its teeth, Brewster (7-5-1) snuck out of Guv Fuller Field with a 4-3 win over Falmouth (6-6-1) on Sunday night in a game that featured five combined errors, numerous bailouts and saw damage limitation win the day.

“It comes down to who makes a mistake last,” Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik said. “I feel like I’ve been a part of a lot of those games … but same token, Zach Kmatz was really good. He loves to pitch, he loves the game, he’s a really good competitor, loves to compete, and for him to go out there and salvage that and get that (win), that’s huge for him.”

Even before Daniel’s error, Kmatz found himself fighting off a Commodores comeback.

Entering his third inning of work, Kmatz allowed a leadoff single, and while he bounced back with a strikeout, a second single put the winning run on base. He induced a groundball to third base, resulting in Daniel tagging out the runner advancing toward him, but also the throwing error, which saw the ball roll into Falmouth’s dugout, letting the runners advance 90-feet freely.

Kmatz knew the weight of the situation, but for him, it was just a case of knowing he had to “lock in more and bear down,” putting trust in his stuff.

“I know my sinker is going to play well, especially with wood bats, a lot of weak contact,” Kmatz said. “There’s no need to try and pitch around them, throw balls, just go out and attack them and that turned out in my favor.”

Kmatz’s game-ending strikeout was his fifth of the game, and helped him escape without giving up an earned run, lowering his ERA from 3.48 to 2.70, while leading the Cape Cod Baseball League in pitching appearances with six.

Kmatz is quickly becoming one of Shevchik’s most trusted arms, and one that the skipper claims “always wants to be out there.”

“I don’t want to have any regrets when I’m done playing,” Kmatz said. “If it causes future problems, then so be it. I’m in the present, I want to go out and compete now.”

The Whitecaps, as a team, competed in the top of the ninth inning to bail out their shortstop Jamie Laskofski (North Carolina), who committed his second error in three games in the seventh, allowing the Commodores to score the game-tying run.

Laskofski’s error occurred on a ground ball hit to him by Falmouth left fielder Pearson Riebock (Baylor), the first batter Kmatz faced in relief of RHP Camden Wimbish (Campbell). The reigning Coastal Athletic Association player of the year at William & Mary’s initially charged the bounding ball but ended up putting himself in reverse and allowing it to go through the wickets as he backpeddled.

An inherited runner scored from second on the play, and the Commodores kept the game knotted up until Whitecaps left fielder Brody DeLamielleure (Florida State) stepped up to the plate with two outs in the final frame of regulation.

With second baseman Jake Lambdin (Duke) on second after singling and swiping the bag, DeLamielleure sent an 0-2 offering from Falmouth’s righty sidearmer Ben Reimers (Stanford) on the ground to shortstop Ryder Woodson (Mississippi State). Woodson appeared ready to make the play, but instead, he mirrored Laskofski’s botch from two innings prior, letting the ball go through his legs to send the winning run home.

“Both infielders just got tied up,” Shevchik said. “They benefited from the mistake that we made, and then they turned around and gave us one back. It’s baseball, you’re going to get beat by it, and then you’re going to get graced by it at times too.”

The ninth inning wasn’t the only time that Brewster had to bail itself out.

In the bottom of the fourth, with Wimbish freshly entered into the game, Daniel committed a fielding error, and DeLamielleure wasn’t able to snag a ball off the bat of Woodson that sent him toward the left-center gap.

“The ball was smoked,” DeLamielleure said. “I was running back, just tried to reach for it, and it (was) behind my head, hit the thumb of my glove, and it’s just a tough play.”

Daniel’s error led to one run, and Woodson later came around to score, tying the game at two apiece after the Whitecaps scored in the first inning for just the second time this season — both times the team has done so have been against the Commodores, last doing it during the home opener on June 14 — and followed it up with another run in the second.

There was redemption, however.

DeLamielleure smoked a line drive single into center field in the top of the fifth, scoring Laskofski, who singled and stole second, giving the team a lead that lasted until the seventh inning.

“I was looking for a heater,” DeLamielleure said. “Got one, tried to go the other way with it and did hit a liner over second base. Just doing a job, not trying to do too much with the pitch, not trying to hit homers or anything, just catch barrel.”

In a game with early offense and a strong start from LHP Payton Manca (Florida State) who went three scoreless, working on a pitch limit on short rest, it all came down to redemption and lucky breaks at the end for the Whitecaps to come out on top.

With the win in the books, Brewster is halfway through a stretch of six straight games, going 1-1-1 in matchups that have been anything but straightforward. But that’s just how the sport works itself out.

“This game ebbs and flows,” DeLamielleure said. “It’s ups and downs, and (you) just can’t get too high or can’t get too low. It’s the name of the game.”

Sporting a .500 record since June 23, the Whitecaps will be hoping for more of those ups than downs as the run draws to a close.