BREWSTER, Mass. — Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik is running out of explanations.
The group, Shevchik says, is working harder than almost any other team he’s coached. Nearly every hitter shows up for optional early work sessions. Players practice on off days, even when Shevchik recommends a break from baseball. It hasn't mattered.
In Friday’s game against Hyannis, starter Jacob Marlowe threw a scoreless five-inning gem and the Whitecaps outhit their opponent, 9-3. They still found a way to lose.
“I’ve been looking up at the scoreboard all day looking at six hits to three, seven to three, eight to three, nine to three wondering what the hell we did wrong in our former lives,” Shevchik said postgame.
The result, a 3-2 loss to the Harbor Hawks at Stony Brook Field, extended Brewster’s winless streak to seven games and marked the team’s third consecutive defeat.
The game’s first pivotal moment came in the bottom of the fifth when the Whitecaps threatened to break a scoreless tie with a golden opportunity.
Whitecaps shortstop Colby Shelton (Florida) poked a leadoff single to left field. Left fielder Dallas Macias (Oregon State) followed with a base hit to left. Nine-hole hitter Cooper Vest (BYU) advanced the runners to second and third with a well-placed bunt.
And next up was Brewster’s hottest hitter, center fielder Nick Dumesnil (Cal Baptist), with a chance to break a scoreless draw in the fifth inning.
But for the slumping Whitecaps, even the most promising rallies have proven feeble.
Dumesnil popped out to the third baseman on the first pitch he saw, eliminating the threat of a sacrifice fly or an RBI groundout. Then second baseman Kaeden Kent (Texas A&M) fanned on a 1-2 breaking ball, stranding Shelton and Macias to end the frame.
“When was the last time Dumesnil popped up to the infield? I can’t remember a time in the last 25 innings when he popped up to the infield,” Shevchik said. “It’s been all ground balls, which would have gotten us a run, or fly balls. When s--ts going wrong, it’s going wrong.”
The next half inning, Hyannis’ offense woke up. Whitecaps reliever Andrew Koshy (Wake Forest) walked the first two batters he faced, then gave up a single to load the bases with no outs.
The Harbor Hawks came through, scoring one run when third baseman Matthew Dattalo (Dallas Baptist) was hit by a pitch, and two more on a base hit by Eddie Pelc (Grand Canyon) to take a 3-0 lead.
That deficit would have seemed less daunting a few weeks back, when the Whitecaps were dominating at the plate and leading the Cape Cod Baseball League in most offensive categories.
But with the way the team has fared recently, a three-run hole seemed insurmountable. And it was.
Brewster stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth before going down quietly in the seventh and eighth. Kent blasted a two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to make it a one-run game, but it was too little, too late.
Ryder Helfrick (Arkansas) grounded out to third to seal the result. If anything, Kent’s home run only made the squandered fifth inning rally more meaningful. If the Whitecaps had been able to squeeze just one run out of the inning, it would have been enough to match Hyannis.
The first half of the game featured a pair of impressive starters: Brewster’s Marlowe and Hyannis’ Blaine Wynk (Ohio State).
Wynk limited the Whitecaps to just two hits in four innings, striking out five. Brewster only put one runner in scoring position with Wynk on the mound, when third baseman Daniel Cuvet (Miami) moved to second after right fielder J.D. Rogers (Vanderbilt) walked. But the righty struck out catcher Brody Donay (Florida) to finish his outing unscathed.
Marlowe, though, did him one better. Making his first start of the season, the Florida State product faced the minimum in five scoreless innings on the mound. He walked none and allowed just one hit, to Hyannis first baseman Blake Cavill (Western Kentucky), which was wiped away after Cavill was caught attempting to steal second.
“I was very impressed,” Shevchik said. “For that kid to go out there and do what he did today, that was huge for him.”
Marlowe, who didn’t pitch for Florida State this season after undergoing two open heart surgeries, had only tossed 8 2/3 innings this summer before Friday — all out of the bullpen.
“He’s a guy that we didn’t know how to use,” Shevchik said. “I mean, how the hell do you use a guy like that, it’s not in the handbook when you’re a coach. But we tried to baby him along a little bit … for him to come in today and get the start, kudos to him.”
Koshy, who gave up three runs in his Whitecaps debut, recorded just one out before D.J. Primeaux (LSU) entered to finish the sixth and pitch a scoreless seventh. Another new reliever, Alex Valentin (Texas State), tossed a scoreless eighth, and Darien Smith (Southeastern), who returned after a short stint with the team in June, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
The team will enjoy a two-day rest with the upcoming All-Star break, returning to action Monday against Cotuit.
“These guys need a day off, it’s a welcome day off,” Shevchik said. “Forget about everything that happened the last seven days and hopefully start a whole brand new season starting on Monday.”
