BREWSTER, Mass. — The Brewster Whitecaps had the Chatham Anglers right where they wanted them.

With one out and the bases loaded, Stony Brook looked ready to witness another comeback victory by the Whitecaps (18-7-3). Leadoff hitter Jay Abernathy (Oklahoma) stepped into the box already 1-for-2 on the day, and the Anglers’ (11-14-3) 4-2 lead looked shaky.

Abernathy slapped a ground ball to first baseman Naulivou Lauaki Jr. (Georgia), who fired it home for the force out. Catcher Harlin Hovater (Mississippi State) looked to end the inning, throwing to first for the double play. His throw careened off Abernathy’s helmet as the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star stepped on the bag safely.

Brody DeLamielleure (Florida State) and Pete Daniel (Virginia Tech) came around to score. Despite the team evening the score, the Whitecaps faithful subsided into a murmur. Abernathy stayed on the field behind first, where he lay for another 10 minutes while athletic trainer Jackee Hill tended to the second baseman.

“I saw [Abernathy] get hit and I have no idea what happened after that,” manager Jamie Shevchik said. “It looks like he got hit in the back of the neck and kind of, like stung him a little bit, jelly-legged him… I think he’s going to be just fine.”

Shevchik praised the training staff for taking the proper precautions.

Jamie Laskofski (North Carolina) grounded out to end the inning, and the tie never broke. The air felt different after the injury stoppage, and the first pitch of the seventh showed it. Daniel made a fielding error, leaving the home team almost no wiggle room as it tried to refocus.

Right-hander Colt Peterson (Stanford) recentered Brewster and forced a groundout to second. Two quick pitches later, he induced a flyout to left. A strikeout ended the inning and realigned Brewster all the way to the finish line.

“It’s hard to kind of get right back into [the game], but we did a pretty good job despite that,” Shevchik said. “You still have to play the game. That’s the part that sucks, right? If there's daylight we can’t call a game because there was an injury on the field.”

Abernathy was set to play in Saturday’s Cape League All-Star Game alongside Laskofski and Jacob Lee (Virginia Commonwealth). He is unlikely to make an appearance following the injury, making Friday afternoon’s game his final in a Brewster uniform. Laskofski, Daniel and Abernathy head off the Cape, beginning the point in the CCBL season when lineups get janky.

Daniel scored twice in his finale, once in the third on a bases-loaded walk and again in the sixth on the infamous fielder’s choice. In his final game as a Whitecap, Abernathy tied the game for his team and finished his tenure inside the CCBL’s top 10 in on-base percentage and batting average. Most astonishingly, he ranked second in the league with 14 stolen bases.

Shevchik called the departing Laskofski a potential CCBL MVP candidate had the infielder stayed for the duration of the season.

As familiar faces leave the Cape, new ones join the ballclub. Blaine Brown (Tennessee) and Peterson made their first outings on the rubber, flipping the momentum against a Chatham team that caught barrels throughout the game.

The left-handed Brown hammered down a slider to finish off his three-punchout, 1-2-3 inning. With a 95-plus mph fastball to pair with a changeup he can throw for strikes, the Tennessee Volunteer has a ceiling on the moon. Not to mention his 100 mph exit velocity.

When asked what was more satisfying, a home run or a strikeout, Brown’s answer was simple.

“Definitely catching a barrel that happens to go over the fence,” the Houston native said. “It is kind of hard to do, but you can go out there and strike somebody out a little bit easier than going out there and hitting a home run.”

Brown made his three strikeouts look easy today, and the Whitecaps will need some long balls to keep them in the hunt for the No. 1 seed. Brewster sits six points behind Yarmouth-Dennis with only 12 games to go, and the seas are only getting rougher.

The Whitecaps return from the All-Star break at Falmouth at 6 p.m. Monday. Watch the Whitecaps broadcast on Cape League TV or follow the game on Instagram (@brewsterwhitecaps) or X (@BrewsterCaps).

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