BREWSTER, Mass. — Through six full innings, the Brewster Whitecaps stunk.

Manager Jamie Shevchik said it plainly: “For six innings we weren’t a good team.”

The Whitecaps (8-5-1) trailed the Chatham Anglers (7-6-1) by seven runs, had two hits against Colin Fisher (Arkansas) and had spent most of the night making Stony Brook Field feel like the loneliest place on Cape Cod. Lucky for the home squad, there is no white towel in baseball. To win, 27 outs are required, and Brewster still had nine left to spend.

If you had told the Brewster faithful that the team they watched drag through two-thirds of the night would be dancing in circles in center field, covered in Gatorade, just a few innings later, they might have laughed you out of Stony Brook.

Fortunately for those fans who stuck around through the slog, they got one heck of a summer treat. Dane Harvey’s (Ohio State) single to center scored Cash Strayer (Florida) easily, finishing a comeback that might kick-start a midseason run unlike any other: one built on resilient success and cool summer-night celebrations.

Not every team that takes on the rigorous Cape Cod Baseball League season bonds the way the Whitecaps have this year. Their brotherhood is quickly becoming a spark plug at every level of the game, at the exact moments the team needs it.

“As soon as I hit it and rounded first, I went and found [Jacob Lee], and I was like, ‘Come on baby!’ and it was good to see a big smile on his face,” Harvey said.

After a Chatham pitching change, with runners on first and second, Cape Cod Baseball League home run leader Jacob Lee (VCU) squared around to bunt, trying to advance the winning run 90 feet closer.

Two days earlier, Lee was in a similar situation. Shevchik opted to let the catcher swing away, leading to a massive strikeout and nearly ending Brewster’s chances to tie or win. With another clutch opportunity in front of him, the bunt looked auspicious. Two strikes went by, and suddenly the former all-Atlantic 10 catcher was forced to swing away.

With a momentum-swinging at-bat in his hands, Lee blooped a dying quail into center, watching it fall in front of the fielder and load the bases.

“Believe it or not, that was a big at-bat for [Lee],” Harvey said. “It’s nice that we have a bunch of guys who just want to win the ballgame. They’ll do whatever it takes. We got the three-hole hitter who’s leading the Cape in home runs trying to lay down a bunt to get guys over because he has his trust in me.”

Hitless in four at-bats to that point, Lee clearly wore the weight of his previous swings. With Harvey standing right behind him in the on-deck circle, Lee took his 1-2 swing with a little extra purpose.

To play with grit for a band of brothers is a privilege many players do not get in summer baseball. Fourteen games in, Brewster is playing for reasons beyond itself, ready for anything baseball might throw its way.

“You can’t script how any game’s going to go and just the fight this team has shown and just being able to stick with it in these tight games … this team has a lot of fight,” Brody DeLamielleure said after his 3-for-5, four-RBI game.

Harvey and Lee’s ninth-inning plays still echoed through the ears of fans settling into their homes for the night, but DeLamielleure (Florida State) made the whole thing possible by executing in moments where hope seemed lost.

Pinch-hitter Michael Torres (Miami) doubled to break Brewster’s six-inning scoreless streak, putting another runner in scoring position for the heart of the order. With two outs, Florida State’s outfielder changed the course of the game, singling into center field. DeLamielleure was not looking for anything crazy, rather just trying to keep it simple and produce.

His .364 average combined with zero extra-base hits makes him a lethal athlete to face in the box. The rising redshirt junior accumulated seven home runs last spring at Florida State, so he is no stranger to leaving the yard. It’s just a matter of time until he launches one deep, but until then, he seems content to single teams to death.

Brewster’s eight runs across three innings speak for themselves, but the seven straight innings of one-run ball Whitecaps pitchers forced upon the Anglers required a magnifying glass.

The Whitecaps pitching staff organized itself into two unique chunks, with a connector in the middle. Santiago Garcia (LSU) opened the game, battling through some brutal defensive play. Cody Howard (Texas) delivered a full inning of scoreless ball. But it was Jordan Regulski’s (Duke) four innings of late relief that held the door wide open for Brewster to capitalize.

“For [Regulski] to go four innings and give up only one run, man that kid is going to be flying higher than anybody else tonight,” Shevchik said. “There is a lot of things that we accomplished today other than a big, big win.”

While it is likely Regulski will not pitch again until after the July 2 off day, his close Monday night may ripple through the Brewster bullpen for the entire Fourth of July stretch.

In their last four games, the Whitecaps have been walked off in Bourne, tied Cotuit by inches, barely closed out Falmouth and now walked off Chatham. Brewster did not look like a good team for six innings. But the Whitecaps played the last three like a team that knows how to execute in big moments, a trait that will come in handy come August.

The Whitecaps play at home again against Bourne on June 30th at 5:00 p.m. Watch the Whitecaps broadcast on Cape League TV, follow the game via Instagram (@brewsterwhitecaps) or X (@BrewsterCaps).

Matt Ford-Wellman can be reached at mfordwellman.media@gmail.com or on X @MattFW_4.