BREWSTER, Mass. — For the first time in almost two years, the Brewster Whitecaps sat on the brink of elimination from the playoffs Wednesday night.

Oozing with energy before Game One the day prior, they came out of the gates sloppy and were dominated from the first pitch. But as manager Jamie Shevchik always says, there’s a reason playoff rounds on the Cape are best-of-three series. And sometimes, a Game One loss can prove to be exactly what a contender needs to emerge as a champion come mid-August.

Take Brewster’s championship run back in 2017 for example. Entering the postseason — much like today’s team — the Whitecaps dropped the series-opener in their first-round matchup with the three-time defending champion Y-D Red Sox. Still, Brewster went on to steal the next two contests and the series. In the East Division championship against top-seeded Orleans, it was rinse, wash, repeat. The Whitecaps crawled out from yet another 1-0 series deficit to take it in three games, then ultimately claimed their second title in program history. Are you noticing a pattern here?

If the Whitecaps wanted to keep their season alive Wednesday, they needed to make history repeat itself. And based on Shevchik’s assessment of his roster, it already had in some ways.

“There’s some eerie similarities here, man,” Shevchik said of his roster compared to that 2017 squad. “(In 2017), we had a player from the state of Arizona (Hunter Bishop) come in, and this season we have the same thing (with Maddox Mihalakis). That season we also had a pitcher from Marist come in late (Conor McNamara), and this year we have Tyler Hartley.”

With their backs against the wall, the Whitecaps showed that same resiliency in Game Two back on their home turf. Boosted by a four-run first inning, Brewster evened its best-of-three first-round series against the Mariners with a 7-3 victory. Carson Tinney (Texas) and Maddox Mihalakis (Arizona) led the charge with two RBIs apiece, while Edwin Alicea (South Florida) and Nate Brittain (Duke) split the day on the mound and enjoyed strong appearances — racking up four Ks and just two walks combined.

“We literally came into this game, from a coaching staff standpoint, like it was just another game,” Shevchik said postgame. “There was nothing that was said extra. We didn’t want to do anything else that was going to add any pressure on them. There’s nothing we can say or do. They’re either going to want to stay here and play, or they’re not.”

To beat the reigning champs — never mind on their home field — the Whitecaps desperately needed two things in Game One: Lights-out starting pitching and consistent hitting from across the board. They got neither. After showing progress throughout the season, ace Duncan Marsten (Wake Forest) only lasted 2 ⅓ innings as he watched the Mariners stack up five earned runs on him. At the same time, Brewster’s bats were frozen from the outset by Harwich starter Troy Dressler (Wake Forest) and never found any sort of rhythm. Not exactly a recipe for success.

But Wednesday’s game not only brought with it a new opportunity, but also a slightly altered lineup for the Whitecaps.

In place of Collin Priest (Clemson) at the designated hitter spot sat Tinney — a Day One player Shevchik said had earned a spot in the starting nine that night. On the mound, Alicea was set to make just his second start of the campaign against another one of Harwich’s top-end arms in righty Gianni Gambardella (Maine). Unlike Marsten, Alicea won his duel.

Alicea started off shaky, allowing two of the first three batters he faced to reach via singles. But from there, he locked in. Sensing the baserunners’ eagerness to steal around him, Alicea read their movements perfectly along the baseline and quickly ended the frame with back-to-back pickoffs.

In the next, Alicea remained as efficient as ever and worked himself out of an even more dangerous jam. Following a walk and consecutive base hits, the Mariners threatened to usher in an onslaught of runs and potentially end Alicea’s night before it had even gotten started with the bases filled. But despite the pressure on his shoulders, Alicea didn’t blink. Using just three offerings, he forced Harwich’s Ernie Echevarria (Pennsylvania) into a double play as the Stony Brook Field crowd let out a collective sigh of relief.

Over the following few frames, Alicea continued to thrive when it mattered most. Though he eventually surrendered a lone run on his way out the door in the fifth, it hardly mattered. By the time he checked out of the contest, Brewster’s offense had already backed him up with six runs. The cushion made it easy for Brittain to hold down the fort the rest of the contest, as he contained the Mariners to just two more frivolous runs the rest of the way. Backed by some highlight-reel catches from the infield and outfield alike, Brewster’s defense contained Harwich despite allowing 12 hits by the end of the game.

“It was huge for (Alicea) and Brittain to throw the entire game today. Because we only used two arms, now we still have a bunch of guys that are left in the bullpen who can go out there tomorrow. A lot of people don’t realize how important that is,” Shevchik said.

Naturally, like it's done many times this year, Brewster’s offense responded to the strong all-around performance in kind. After going out with a whimper in the first couple frames less than 24 hours earlier, the Whitecaps constantly barreled up balls from the get-go.

With two outs on the board in the first, Mihalakis looked to keep the half-inning going by simply putting the ball in play. Instead, he did much more. As Dalton Wentz (Wake Forest) sat poised to run at first, Mihalakis hammered his long-awaited first homer of the season to give his team an early two-run edge. The blast also marked his first RBIs in five games.

Building on the momentum, the next four Brewster batters each roped base hits before the Mariners finally stumbled into the third out. When the dust finally settled, it was 4-0 ‘Caps.

Amid the surge, Tinney logged an RBI in his return to the lineup — proving Shevchik’s decision to bring him back into the fold to be a wise one. In the bottom of the second, Tinney once again returned that investment. Moments after Wentz’s RBI double, Tinney’s hit-by-pitch painfully brought in Brewster's sixth run on the day with the bases loaded. The 6-0 hole at that point spelled the end of Gambardella’s night, capping off a disappointing one for an arm who had entered with a solid 2.55 ERA.

The last time the Mariners visited Stony Brook Field, the Whitecaps saw their 7-3 lead morph into a 9-7 deficit in the blink of an eye, ultimately dropping the contest. But this time around, no such miracle was in the cards for Harwich. Only mustering a few runs across the final five frames — which included a late two-run scare in the top of the ninth — its bats finished a lowly 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position. At the same time, an Adam Magpoc (San Diego State) groundout RBI ushered in Brewster’s final run in the eighth, cementing an already sure win.

Much like their 2017 counterparts, the Whitecaps found a way to overcome the pressure of elimination and drag the Mariners back to Harwich for a winner-take-all matchup. But the job’s only halfway done. Now, they have to do it all over again on Thursday at Whitehouse Field — a venue in which they have yet to win a game in three tries this season.

Difficult? Certainly. Impossible? Not in the slightest. Not for this team.

“We were one game away from going home, and now (the Mariners) are also one game away. For as good as they are — and that’s a really good team — they are also thinking that they are one loss away from going home and seeing their families and everything else. (Now), it comes down to whether you can play fundamental baseball and who wants it more at this point.”

Title photo credit: Casey Bayne.