WAREHAM, Mass. — In a matter of moments, the energy at Clem Spillane Field had shifted.

The Brewster Whitecaps stood on the precipice of defeating the Wareham Gatemen on their home soil, entering the ninth inning with a five-run lead. A walk and three singles later, and the Gatemen had the tying run at the plate.

The two outs on the scoreboard only heightened the drama.

All eyes were trained on Whitecaps left-handed reliever Sebastian Santos-Olson (Miami), attempting to end it without further damage occurring, and Gatemen right fielder Carter Groen (La Salle), trying to be a hero.

The right-handed batter wasn’t interested in waiting around, taking a hack at the southpaw’s first offering. He managed to drive it high into the sky and out to center field, but he didn’t get all of it, forcing him to watch the ball fall firmly into the glove of Michael Torres (Miami), extinguishing the hope of the home faithful.

Brewster (20-8-3), which emerged victorious 5-1 on Wednesday night, managed to escape a late Wareham (10-20) push for the second time this summer, dancing around a two-run ninth inning to win 5-3 in its only other trip off Cape. Santos-Olson got himself in and out of the jam to secure the victory, preserving a pair of valiant outings from right-handed starter Charlie Willcox (Ole Miss) and right-handed reliever Noah Thigpen (Troy), with the offense taking advantage of a series of mistakes to get the job done.

“The two times that we came out here, I feel like it came down to (being) one hitter away from losing the game,” Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik said. “But that’s baseball. I’d rather be in those nail-biting moments than be down by 10 or up by 10 where a lot of the pitchers feel like they’ve got nothing to play for. This is what makes a good pitcher or a bad pitcher, being in really tight moments where you’ve got to buckle down and go out there and really compete.”

Despite Santos-Olson giving up a run in the ninth, his gutsy performance was exactly what Shevchik was looking for: proof that he can navigate late-game scenarios.

The lefty entered the game with a runner on and two outs in the eighth, freezing shortstop Connor Cuff (Louisiana) to end the frame. And despite surrendering a flurry of offense when he stepped back out onto the mound, he recorded two swinging strikeouts before the decisive flyout.

The outing was the All-Star’s first since he made his first start of the season, a three-inning, seven-hit, one-earned-run affair against the Harwich Mariners on July 14. As of now, the plan is for Santos-Olson to spend the rest of the summer in the bullpen, but not because of a lack of faith in his starting ability.

“When we start to get into the playoffs toward the end of this year, I need a full stable of left-handers in (the bullpen),” Shevchik said. “That’s where I need him to be.”

Santos-Olson wasn’t credited with the save Wednesday, but kept Thigpen’s name in the win column after a low-efficiency, yet highly-effective start from Willcox — the righty’s last for the Whitecaps.

Willcox, admittedly, didn't have his best fastball with him on the hill, causing him to fall behind seven of the 16 batters he faced, which played a significant role in him throwing 73 pitches through just four innings. However, he was able to use his cutter and curveball, while sprinkling in his changeup against lefties, to record outs.

The pitch count prohibited Willcox from a fifth inning — in fact, he had to convince Shevchik to let him finish the fourth during a two-out mound visit — but he was still pleased with his line, allowing just three hits and a walk, only letting one runner get past second base, and striking out five.

“It was fun, keeping the team in a position to win,” Willcox said. “They made great plays behind me — good way to finish it off with a good win for the guys. Gave it what I had today.”

Wednesday was a full-circle moment for Willcox, making his last start of the summer where he made his first on July 1. The Ole Miss commit went five scoreless innings that day, picking up the win as his offense scored five runs before the Gatemen scored three in the final two frames to make proceedings interesting.

Now, Willcox will head to campus in Oxford, Mississippi, with a 1.73 ERA across 26 innings pitched between four starts and four relief appearances under his belt. His goal is to crack the weekend rotation, and if it comes to fruition, the success will trace back to the Cape.

“Some starts you have everything, and some starts (where) you have everything you get hit,” Willcox said. “(Today) I didn’t have everything, but I worked with what I had, and (I’ll be) taking these experiences and using them for my next year and years to come, just building off everything, learning from every day I throw.”

After Willcox departed, Thigpen kept the momentum rolling, twirling 3.2 scoreless frames, allowing just the walk Santos-Olson inherited. As Thigpen continued to blank Wareham, his offense continued taking advantage of mistakes — a theme of the summer.

“We were able to steal some bases today and put ourselves in a position (to score),” Shevchik said. “If we went base to base all day long today, (we) probably don't score five runs. We took advantage of their mistakes that they make, and I feel like that's what baseball is out here for this last quarter of the season.”

Catcher Owen Jenkins (Texas Tech) scored the first run of the game in the second, singling before going first to third and scoring on a wild pitch. In the fourth, Jenkins brought in right fielder Cash Strayer (Florida) on a triple after Strayer was hit by a pitch. Jenkins then scored on a sacrifice fly, courtesy of Torres.

Brewster’s biggest swing of the bat came in the eighth after the leadoff man, left fielder Adam Haight (Oregon State), was hit on his left leg.

With Haight on first, shortstop Will Baker (Georgia Tech), who was playing in just his third game for the Whitecaps, punished a ball over the right field wall for his first home run of the season. The rising junior from Gold Coast, Australia, hit nine this spring and posted a 1.046 OPS over 59 games.

“I was just trying to find my timing in the last few ABs,” Baker said. “It was pretty good to get some good swings off in my first 10 at-bats, but I’m seeing the ball better, and I feel like I’m more on time now.”

Utilizing the opportunities that the free passes provided gave Brewster its chance to score five runs despite recording just six hits and striking out a season-high 15 times, something Shevchik said the team has to work on.

On the other side of the coin, across the diamond, Wareham couldn’t take advantage of the few free passes — five total — that the Whitecaps pitching staff allowed, leading to just one run despite recording the same number of hits.

And when Brewster’s back started to inch up against the proverbial wall, it was able to slither out of trouble, making its mistakes all but meaningless in the end.

“We buckled down and made a pitch when we needed to,” Shevchik said. “Another inch on that bat and we could still be playing here right now.”