Brewster, Mass. — The Brewster Whitecaps might have clinched their spot in the Cape League playoffs Saturday night, but 18 hours later, they had a baseball game to play. Brewster could not dig itself out of an early hole and faced the same problems it had been plagued by all season.
The Whitecaps (15-24-2) shot themselves in the foot with two errors and nine men left on base in a 9-6 loss to the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox (23-17-1) Sunday evening at Stony Brook Field. The Whitecaps once again outhit their opponent and lost to them, as they recorded 11 knocks compared to the Red Sox’s 10.
“The errors and the walks hurt you,” Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik said. “It’s hard to overcome and allowing a bunch of guys off free passes on base and playing with four or five outs in an inning.”
Brewster did not just run into trouble early, it ran into trouble with the first batter. Red Sox outfielder Enzo Apodaca (Gonzaga) golfed a two-seam fastball on the inside corner 368 feet over the right-field fence to give Y-D a 1-0 lead.
The Red Sox added another in the second after Hunter Hines (Mississippi State) scored off an RBI single by Ryan Jackson (USC), making it 2-0 Y-D.
Brewster responded in the third, but it was more of a soft-landing jab than a hard uppercut.
Dylan Leach (Missouri State) led off the bottom of the third with a double, then Michael Robertson laced a bunt and was called out at first in a controversial call. The umpires then convened and subsequently overturned the call, giving Brewster an extra jolt. .
Robertson stole second,Tyler Pettorini (Ohio State) drove in Leach off a groundout and Davis Diaz (Vanderbilt) singled Robertson home to tie the ballgame at 2-2.
That was all the Whitecaps could conjure up to chip at Red Sox southpaw Jackson Kent (Arizona), who outpitched Wildcat teammate Clark Candiotti (Arizona) on the Brewster side. Kent allowed just two runs in his five innings of work, scattered six hits and worked himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by posting a backwards K on the scoresheet.
After the third, the Red Sox delivered sucker punch after sucker punch to Candiotti and Tyler Mudd (Boston College), pouring seven runs in over the next three innings, but only two of them were earned.
In the fifth, an overthrow allowed RJ Austin (Vanderbilt) to reach base, then with two outs Dub Gleed (UC Irvine) singled him and Braden Montgomery (Stanford) home to make it 6-2. Another error with two outs in the sixth allowed Apodaca to score and Austin to reach base, extending the inning.
To add insult to injury, Montgomery singled to score both Ryan Stafford (Cal Poly) and Austin, expanding Y-D’s lead to 9-2.
Candiottiwas the starter for Brewster and was responsible for four of the nine runs, giving up five hits in 3.2 innings. Tyler Mudd (Boston College) followed and allowed five unearned runs in his 5.1 innings, but surrendered five hits and three walks.
After Kent exited the Whitecaps attacked the Red Sox bullpen, with Diaz leading the charge. He launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 9-4 ballgame and finished his day 3-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch and three RBI as well.
His veteran presence has been a constant in a whirlwind of players in this Whitecaps team.
“He’s your prototypical veteran guy. The guy who’s been here before, the game never gets too fast for him,” Shevchik said of Diaz, who played in 31 games for the Whitecaps a year ago in 2022. “And he’s just Mr. Consistent.”
Brewster continued its comeback charge as Mudd shut down the Red Sox over the last three innings as a couple of lucky bounces and two Yarmouth-Dennis errors allowed Brock Tibbitts (Indiana) and Leach to score in the eighth.
Down 9-6 entering the final inning, the Whitecaps came down to their final three outs to work some magic. Josh Pearson (LSU) singled to lead off the inning, but the rabbit stayed in the hat the rest of the inning as Brewster’s magic act went nowhere.
The Whitecaps will not be going far as they return home to Stony Brook Field Monday at 4 p.m. for a matchup with the Cotuit Kettleers, their penultimate home contest of the regular season.
