BREWSTER, Mass. — The Brewster Whitecaps have treated their fans to some of the best baseball in the franchise's 37-year history over the past week, all things considered. Although they saw their undefeated streak to open the season come to an end Monday, winning six of seven games out of the gate was still an accomplishment in its own right.

Then came Sunday night.

For the first time this season, the Whitecaps (6-2, 1-2 Eastern Division) looked completely out of sorts, falling 6-2 to the Firebirds (4-4, 2-2 Eastern Division) behind arguably their worst performance of the campaign so far. Brewster was beaten more by its own mistakes than its opponent’s successes, surrendering six walks and stumbling into a season-high three errors. Only mustering four hits at the same time, the Whitecaps never held a lead the entire contest.

“All six of the guys that scored (for Orleans) didn’t get on base by a hit. You’re not going to win games like that,” Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik said postgame.

Ahead of the matchup, Shevchik stressed the importance of making sure his team quickly turned the page after suffering their first loss in over a year. The message clearly took hold, as Brewster’s dugout arrived at the field with the same level of energy that had carried it through its 6-0 start. With a raucous dugout behind them, the Whitecaps nearly struck first.

Fresh off being named the CCBL’s Player of the Week, Josiah Ragsdale (Boston College) forced former CCBL Most Outstanding Player Itsuki Takemoto (Hawaii) into the first of multiple early mistakes, walking on seven pitches. Two outs later, Alex Sosa (NC State) forced the two-way pitcher into another walk, placing runners on the corners for Brewster. A wild pitch sent the baserunners into scoring position, but Takemoto recovered with a strikeout to spoil the chance.

Just like the night before, the Whitecaps’ bats seemingly disappeared for the first seven innings, save for Daniel Cuvet’s (Miami) single in the top of the fourth. After pounding the Bourne Braves to the tune of a season-high 10 hits just two nights ago, Brewster suddenly couldn’t seem to buy one from even its most reliable bats during the span.

In the past, Brewster’s defense has shown it can keep games within reach until its offense finally wakes up. On Opening Day, it held the Y-D Red Sox to two runs, which proved to be just enough for the Whitecaps to overcome in an eventual 3-2 victory. The next day, the unit limited the damage to a two-run deficit once again, allowing the team to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 triumph in the blink of an eye. It wasn't an ideal strategy, but it had worked out for the Whitecaps before.

This time though, Brewster’s defense failed to hold the line. Following three solid innings to start the day from starting pitcher Owen Proksch (Duke) & Co., ugly fielding mistakes and shoddy pitching across the board sabotaged the Whitecaps the rest of the night.

After allowing just two hits through his first few innings of work and striking out three batters, the wheels quickly fell off for Proksch at the top of the fourth. Walking back-to-back Orleans batters, Elijah Ickes (Hawaii) threatened to load the bases with a perfectly-placed bunt.

Although usually a routine play for catcher Drew Rogers (Georgia Tech) from behind the plate, his throw veered way off the mark past the first baseman’s glove, giving Michael Crossland (UC San Diego) all day to jog across home plate. Proktsch immediately answered with his fourth strikeout, but it wasn’t enough to convince Shevchik to keep him on the mound going forward.

“You just gotta stay present, you gotta flush it,” Rogers said of moving past the error. “That’s it."

With Alex Philpott (Florida) now throwing balls and strikes, things only went from bad to worse for the Whitecaps. On just Philpott’s second offering, Alejandro Garza (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) blasted a line drive into right field, sending the two base runners ahead of him home and growing the Firebirds’ edge to 3-0.

Staying on the bump for the next two innings, Philpott gave Brewster’s bats a small window to cut into the deficit, holding the Firebirds to just a double across the fifth and sixth. But the support never came. Instead, Orleans continued to pile on runs while the Whitecaps’ defense scrambled to cover up its mistakes.

With Chase Davis (South Alabama) pitching out of the bullpen, he hit the ground running by retiring the first two batters he faced. But from there, chaos ensued. After surrendering a five-pitch walk, Davis’ day came to an abrupt end after a turbulent series of at bats that included a wild pitch, hitting a batter with his pitch and a second walk. Shevchik sent in Justin Shadek (Georgia Tech) in an effort to clean up the mess, ending the disastrous frame one mid-90’s fastball at a time.

Now trailing 4-0, the Whitecaps’ offense finally showed life, putting together a trio of singles in the seventh. Aided by the Firebirds’ lone error, Brewster’s late surge of offense brought some semblance of hope to its dugout, ending its scoring drought from the previous game at 15 innings. Only down by two runs now heading into the eighth, the “Comeback ‘Caps” seemed primed to do what they do best.

But for the second night in a row, a dramatic come-from-behind victory just wasn’t in the cards for Brewster.

With the heart of its order at the plate across the final two innings, the Whitecaps' bats went cold again as they failed to put up as much as a single hit. At the same time, further defensive miscues in the eighth allowed the Firebirds to easily grow their lead further, cementing Brewster’s first home loss of the campaign in embarrassing fashion.

“This is one of those games that at the end of the year, you feel like it’s going to bite you in the ass a little bit because we just didn’t show up to play,” Shevchik said.

Title photo credit: Kayla McCullough.