BREWSTER, Mass. — On the verge of a three-game losing streak, the Whitecaps were down yet again in the bottom of the ninth.

Entering the inning down 5-2, Brewster clawed back with a hit by pitch, eight-pitch walk and RBI single. With the tying run on second base and the winning run at the plate, Nolan Schubart — Brewster’s runs and OPS leader — had the chance to be a hero and turn the recent skid around.

Schubart (Oklahoma State) fouled off multiple pitches to stay alive but eventually swung through a high pitch to end the threat. The chance was one that could’ve potentially changed the entire season for the Whitecaps.

"At the end of the year, that would have been like, ‘Hey, where was the turning point on this whole season?’ And probably a lot of people would have said, it was that two-out single that scored the runs or the walk-off home run or whatever it was,” Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik said postgame. “That kind of thing right there puts you right over the edge.”

Brewster (3-6, 1-3 East Division) fell to Yarmouth-Dennis (7-2, 4-1 East Division), 5-3, Monday evening, dropping its third game in a row. The contest came down to the final pitch but was decided within the first half inning.

Rocco Reid (Clemson) was looking for a bounceback in his second start of his second season in Brewster. His opening start on June 18 didn’t go as planned, when he allowed seven runs in just 1 1/3 innings of work.

His second appearance started looking like it would be much of the same. Reid walked the first batter and made an error on a short chopper back to him from the second batter. Both executed a double steal on the bases to get second and third with no outs. Reid forced two groundouts but both scored a base runner, putting the Red Sox ahead 2-0 without a base hit.

“Games are won and lost, momentum is gained and lost within the first couple innings,” Shevchik said. “You start off the game with a walk and an error and those two runs scored without a hit. Everything deflates.”

After allowing two runs to open the game, Brewster’s offense had little answers for Red Sox starting pitcher Ramsey David (Southeastern). The right-hander struck out three hitters while walking one in the first inning, topping out at as much as 97 mph on his fastball while mixing in a devastating slider.

Reid’s tough first inning and David’s efficiency had the Whitecaps behind early, but eventually, Reid settled in. From the second inning on, he allowed just two hits and one run, finishing with a line of five innings pitched with two hits and three runs allowed. It was a much better performance compared to his season debut a week ago but still put the Whitecaps in a difficult position.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot in the first inning and just couldn't recover,” Shevchik said.

The Whitecaps offense eventually got going in the bottom of the fourth inning. After not recording a base hit through the first three innings, Daniel Cuvet (Miami) got Brewster started by turning a 95 mph fastball to right field with a 98 mph exit velocity. Andrew Fischer (Ole Miss) flew out to left field but Jayden Hylton (Stetson) hammered a ball up the middle to make it first and third with just one down.

Chase Mora (Texas State) drove in Cuvet with a sacrifice fly to get the Whitecaps on the board but that’s all Brewster would get in the frame.

Will Ray (Wake Forest) entered in relief of Reid and cruised through his first two innings of work. But in the eighth inning, with Y-D leading 3-1, Ray allowed a two-out single and a home run, giving the Red Sox two huge insurance runs.

With the Y-D lead expanded to four in the bottom of the eighth, Brewster cut back into the deficit. Ryder Helfrick (Arkansas) and Schubart singled, making it first and third with one out. Helfrick, who moved to third on Schubart’s single scored on a sacrifice fly by Cuvet. Again, though, the Whitecaps left runners on base.

Following a scoreless ninth inning by Kellen Oakes (Oklahoma State), the Whitecaps brought 7-8-9 in the order up to the plate looking to overcome a three-run deficit. Mora started the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Tyler Pettorini (Ohio State) entered as a pinch runner and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

RJ Johnson Jr. struck out but Cooper Vest, who entered the game off the bench in the sixth inning, stepped up looking to bring the tying run to the plate. Vest worked an eight-pitch walk out of the ninth spot in the order, flipping the lineup over.

“He gave us a chance,” Shevchik said of Vest’s at-bat. “If he doesn't have that fight, we don't get an opportunity. We got the tying and go-ahead run to the plate. It's all you can ask for.”

J.D. Rogers (Vanderbilt) struck out for the second out of the inning, but Helfrick kept the threat alive with a RBI single. Schubart stepped to the plate as the go-ahead run with Vest on third and Helfrick on second as the tying run. After starting ahead 2-1, a called strike brought the count to 2-2. He fouled off two pitches to stay alive, but a high fastball beat him to end the game and push Brewster’s losing streak to three.

“One hit right there probably could have changed the entire season. It literally could have changed the momentum of everything,” Shevchik said.

Photo Credit: Avery Raimondo