For the first time in 17 days, the Whitecaps have won a baseball game.

Facing elimination with a loss, Brewster (13-24-2) defeated Yarmouth-Dennis (24-11-4) for the first time this season, holding on for a 13-5 victory.

“I’m just trying to stay even-keeled,” Brewster manager Jamie Shevchik said postgame. “It's great what we did today, but obviously we need to get some help now.”

Brewster’s attention then turned to its East Division foes, who held control of the Whitecaps’ playoff hopes. Orleans dropped its game to Bourne 7-4. And just a few minutes later, Harwich fell to Chatham 5-4.

Now entering Sunday, a Brewster win over Harwich and a Orleans loss would give the Whitecaps the three seed, placing them at Veterans Field against the Anglers in a single elimination game Tuesday night. A Whitecaps loss would put them on the outside looking in.

Brewster entered Saturday afternoon’s game on its last life. With two days to go in the regular season, the Whitecaps sat in place with 26 points. Fourth-place Orleans held 28 points but has already clinched the head-to-head tiebreaker with three games to play. Third-place Harwich sat four points ahead of Brewster, but with the tiebreaker yet to be decided.

A loss would have officially eliminated the Whitecaps from the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and only the third time in the Shevchik era. The win kept them alive for Sunday, as long as either the Firebirds or Mariners lost Saturday night. Both did.

Still, for a team that hadn’t won in 17 calendar days and 11 games, Brewster needed to take care of business. The agenda toward playoff survival started off with a bang for the Whitecaps.

Y-D starter Ethan Firoved (Pitt) came into the game with a 2.00 ERA in three appearances, but he quickly fell into trouble. A leadoff walk by Ryder Helfrick (Arkansas), a single by J.D. Rogers (Vanderbilt) and another walk by Nick Dumesnil (Cal Baptist) loaded the bases to start, prompting a Red Sox mound visit.

After the cool-down period, Firoved still struggled to find command, walking cleanup hitter Kaeden Kent (Texas A&M) to score Helfrick. Dallas Macias (Oregon State) then grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring a second run and Brody Donay (Florida) singled to right, scoring Dumesnil to extend the early lead to three.

“We did some things that we didn't do in a long time,” Shevchik said of his offense. “We walked a lot early in the game. That got us four runs in the first inning. We stole some bases when we needed to. We were aggressive. The opportunities were there to do more offensively than they have been over the past two weeks.”

To cap the inning, a Drew Faurot (Florida State) sacrifice fly scored Macias, giving Brewster starter Jacob Marlowe (Florida State) four runs to work with.

Marlowe, who pitched five scoreless innings in his previous start, carried the momentum into Saturday’s game. Prior to the Whitecaps’ four-run first, the southpaw began his second start of the season by retiring the side in order in the first, including striking out CCBL OPS leader Ethan Petry to end the frame.

Brewster’s starter allowed a bloop single to start the second inning but stranded the runner, keeping the Whitecaps lead at four. The YD offense — which entered the game with an East-Division best .751 OPS — struggled early against Marlowe, with little hard contact.

In the third, though, the Red Sox made Marlowe pay. Y-D nine-hole hitter Gavin Gallaher (North Carolina) started the rally with a single to center field. Then leadoff hitter Michael Ball (Nevada) hammered an RBI double 92 mph to the left-center gap, scoring Gallaher. The next batter, Will Tippett (South Carolina) followed up Ball with a two-run shot to left, cutting the Brewster lead to one.

Marlowe then retired the next two batters, but the Red Sox's three-run frame made it a close game. In the fourth, he allowed a leadoff double but a nifty play by Kent with a hidden ball trick erased the threat. Marlowe recorded two outs in the fifth but with Petry coming up for the third time, Shevchik went to the bullpen, bringing in right-hander Darien Smith (Southeastern).

Smith forced a lazy fly out to center field, ending Marlowe’s line at three earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts. After undergoing open-heart surgery and missing the entire college season, Marlowe was one of the brightest spots of the Whitecaps summer, finishing the regular season with a 2.95 ERA.

Following the fourth consecutive inning of scoreless offense for Brewster, Smith came back out for the top of the sixth and fell into instant trouble. A ground-rule double by Easton Carmichael (Oklahoma) started the inning followed by a bunt single by Ryan Gerety (Northeastern) made it first and third with no out.

After Smith forced a fly out, Carmichael and Gerety executed a double steal, tying the game at 4-4.

Though, Donay quickly brought the lead back to Brewster’s side. Following a leadoff single by Dallas Macias (Oregon State), Donay golfed a 417-foot shot to dead-center field, giving the Whitecaps a 6-4 advantage in the sixth.

“The same lineup will be out there tomorrow, for the most part,” Shevchik said. “But those guys are gonna have to produce again.”

Brewster added five more runs to its lead in the seventh when Rogers scored on a wild pitch and Dumesnil reached home on a Macias sacrifice fly. When the inning seemed to be over on a fly ball to right, Y-D’s outfielder dropped the ball, allowing Donay and Faurot to come around. Shelton advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield single by Michael Iannazzo (Maryland).

D.J. Primeaux (LSU) entered in the eighth for a six-out save but walked a batter before advancing to second on a wild pitch and scoring on a single to right. Though, that’s all the Red Sox could muster.

The Whitecaps added two more in the eighth, solidifying their biggest win since an 11-0 victory over Wareham on July 13.

This just breeds a little life into these guys right now,” Shevchik said. “They know that they can win. They know that we can put up numbers.”

For the rest of Saturday’s games, Brewster needed losses from one of Harwich or Orleans to stay alive. Wins from both teams would’ve eliminated the Whitecaps from the playoff picture, making Sunday's game have no implications.

“I just want tomorrow’s game to be meaningful,” Shevchik said before knowing the results of Orleans’ and Harwich’s games on Saturday. “The last thing that I want to do is play a meaningless game on the last day of the year. I don't know if I've ever done that in my career.”

Parker Detmers (Louisville) will take the mound for the Whitecaps on Sunday with the season on the line.

“I think we have the right guy on the mound,” Shevchik said. “He's been arguably our best pitcher that we've had over the last four to five weeks. So if we do have a chance tomorrow, I think we have the right guy to go out there and do it.”

Photo credit: Julianne Shivers