ORLEANS, Mass. – Brewster Whitecaps shortstop Jamie Laskofski (North Carolina) had a decision to make.

The reigning Coastal Athletic Association Player of the Year at William & Mary’s – who has since taken advantage of the transfer portal to take his talents to Chapel Hill – ran in on a high chopper off the bat of Orleans Firebirds second baseman Adrian Beltre Jr. (San Diego), snagging it off a second bounce; the question, however, was how he would get the ball to second to start a potential inning-ending double play.

Laskofski’s answer was to use his glove as a tool to flip the ball to second baseman Jake Lambdin (Duke). Unfortunately for the Whitecaps, Laskofski’s feed was high and offline, pulling Lambdin off the base and eliminating any chance at first in the process.

From that point forward, with one out in the fifth inning and two runners on base, everything fell apart for Brewster (1-2), as Orleans (1-2) went on to score six runs in the frame, shattering the game’s 1-1 tie en route to a 9-1 Monday night victory, its first of the season in front of the faithful at Eldredge Park.

“We just needed an out there,” Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik said. “We didn’t need to do anything special, just go out and get one out … that one play could have changed everything, from the psyche of the pitcher, to what he does next, to how we call pitches, everything. So yeah, it kind of got the ball rolling.”

Beltre Jr. – yes, that Beltre – was the first batter that Whitecaps right-handed pitcher Jordan Regulski (Duke) faced after entering in relief of southpaw starter Payton Manca (Florida State), and after the error, he never got settled.

The Maryland native walked the next batter he faced, third baseman Casey Cumiskey (Southern New Hampshire), on four pitches to load the bases, and a wild pitch while facing shortstop JD Stein (Wake Forest) brought in the first run of the inning.

No one knew it at the time, but the troubles were just getting started.

Stein singled into center field to bring in two runs, and while Whitecaps catcher Owen Jenkins (transfer portal) was able to nab him stealing second, two walks loaded the bases and drove Regulski from the game.

“These guys, all pitchers, got to learn that stuff like that’s going to happen,” Shevchik said. “Errors are going to happen, and they got to be able to flush it and get back on the mound and go get the next guy.”

The next Brewster arm, lefty Tye Briscoe (Arkansas), didn’t fare much better. He walked his first batter before hitting the next to bring in the third run of the inning. The dagger followed, as Firebirds catcher Cale Stricklin (Charlotte) drove a double into left field, accounting for the final two runs of the frame.

The Whitecaps bullpen has started the season by allowing an inning of at least three runs in each of their first three games, and the unfortunate streak has haunted the team in each of its last two.

There is good news for the relief arms that have struggled, however: chances at redemption are all guaranteed.

“College baseball, you happen to go out and you have a bad outing early in the season, you get buried in the bullpen (and) you don’t pitch the rest of the year,” Shevchik said. “The good thing about being in the Cape is you get a chance to pitch in probably three days.”

What twisted the knife for the Whitecaps was that Manca’s great performance was all for naught.

The Seminole recorded a respectable 4.26 ERA during his redshirt sophomore season, but didn’t have an outing of more than three innings pitched, and only completed 12.2 innings total. Despite that, he went 4.1 innings, allowing only three hits and one walk while striking out four with only one earned run tacked against him.

Manca was pulled after his walk in the fifth, but the decision had nothing to do with the result of the plate appearance.

“That was just pitch limit,” Shevchik said. “He was coming out no matter what. I told him I would’ve preferred the out there, but stuff like that happens. That’s the thing about the Cape League, you got to navigate a lot of different things.”

While the bullpen collapse might’ve spoiled Manca’s outing, the offense didn’t do enough to support its starting pitcher, only scoring one run in the fourth inning against Firebirds LHP Chase Frey (transfer portal). Second baseman Jake Lambdin (Duke) was the Whitecap who got the job done, singling home designated hitter Jacob Lee (Virginia Commonwealth), who reached on a single of his own.

Those two singles accounted for half of all Brewster hits, which all came against Frey, who went five strong. The only damage the Whitecaps mustered against the Firebirds bullpen was a sixth-inning walk courtesy of left fielder Adam Magpoc (San Diego State).

“(It was) a lot of power stuff, other than (Frey),” Lee said. “At least upper nines, mid nines. It’s always tough; there’s a little bit of an adjustment period, guys haven’t had at-bats. I think right now it’s just getting used to the velo and getting used to the zones.”

The box score doesn’t tell the full story about Lee’s day at the plate. He only went 1-for-4, but also drove a ball into deep center field in the sixth inning. The only problem is Eldredge Park’s center field fence, which sits 434 feet from home plate, kept the ball inside the park, where it fell into the glove of Orleans center fielder Rayner Heinrich (Tarleton State).

“Off the bat, I’m just like, ‘Ah, hopefully it gets over his head,’” Lee said. “It’s kind of tough, just an unlucky day to play here, but that’s baseball.”

The Whitecaps came back from a five-run deficit to secure their opening-night victory, and even after being no-hit for eight innings on Sunday, they came back to make it a close game against the Falmouth Commodores. The team has shown a propensity to never give up, but it shouldn’t have to rely on that attribute.

Going into Tuesday’s matchup against the Wareham Gatemen, Brewster will be looking to flip the script.

“We’ve got to get on the barrel tomorrow,” Shevchik said. “We’ve got to put up some numbers, we’ve got to score some runs, we’ve got to take some pressure off the pitching staff, because right now we're just relying on our pitching staff to be perfect, and that's never going to happen all the time.”