When Duncan Marsten (Wake Forest) first met with the Brewster Whitecaps’ pitching staff ahead of the 2025 season, he arrived with a chip on his shoulder.
Despite emerging from high school as a standout starting arm, Marsten was never given the chance to take on that role as a freshman at Wake Forest last spring. From the get-go, he was automatically slotted in as a sparingly used bullpen piece — and never found his rhythm. In fact, his mistakes only became more and more common as the season went on.
Marsten finished his first year with the Demon Deacons with just 10 ⅓ frames under his belt, going out on the lowest of lows. Across his final two games — where he saw just under two innings combined — Marsten surrendered a whopping eight hits and two home runs. His confidence was at an all-time low, and he needed somewhere to turn to help him reach his full potential. That’s when Brewster offered him the tools to do so.
“We sat down with Duncan in our intro meeting and told him, ‘Listen, whatever happened at school is over. It’s time for you to get back on track to where you need to be,’” Whitecaps pitching coach Brian Del Rosso said.
After enduring a tough introduction to the Division I landscape, Marsten has emerged as one of Brewster's go-to starting arms down the final stretch of the campaign. His season-long transition from bullpen piece to frontline pitcher has helped bring stability to the Whitecaps' revolving door of a rotation in 2025 — one that's seen more change than most in the Cape Cod Baseball League.
Nobody had been more excited for Marsten’s arrival than Del Rosso. His brilliance throughout high school had proven there was still a plethora of untapped potential waiting to be brought to the surface. Del Rosso mentioned that Marsten was a guy who he “couldn’t wait to get his hands on.”
But before he could make a splash as a frontline pitcher for the ‘Caps, Marsten had to wait his turn. With the bulk of Brewster’s top aces only sticking around for the first half of the season, manager Jamie Shevchik had no choice but to cycle them into games as much as he could before they left. Putting Marsten in over them simply wouldn’t have made sense. While more proven D-I starters like Jacob Dudan (NC State) and Billy Barlow (Florida) stole the show in each of Marsten’s first three games, he found himself once again contributing solely as a reliever.
After allowing a combined five hits and two earned runs through his first 1 ⅔ frames out of the bullpen, Marsten flipped the switch in his third — and ultimately last — appearance as a nonstarter for Brewster. On June 25, he took over for Dudan in the third with the game tied at one and proceeded to hold the Harbor Hawks silent across the next few innings. Not allowing a single hit during the stretch, his efforts allowed Brewster’s offense to heat up enough to jump out to a 3-1 lead by the time he stepped off the mound. The margin turned out to be enough to secure victory that night.
The performance not only showed that Marsten’s college rust had finally worn off, but also that he was ready to step into a much more significant role moving forward. Brewster’s coaches agreed. Ever since that standout performance, Marsten has remained a mainstay of the Whitecaps’ rotation.
Along with his changed role, Marsten’s pregame routine was also modified. With potentially more innings now on his plate each night, Del Rosso made sure Marsten’s training ensured he could go the distance. His time throwing in the bullpen before games was slightly extended, reflecting the need for him to remain in games even when his pitch count started to climb. Rather than relying solely on clean strikes, Del Rosso also stressed to Marsten the importance of pitching to contact with his sinker in order to keep at-bats as short as possible. Add those elements to his already strong weight room routine, and Marsten was primed to excel as Brewster’s next consistent starting arm.
“I mean, the goal of every start is to last as long as possible,” Marsten said. “I think the general consensus between me and Shevchik is that we know how good I actually am, and it’s just a matter of getting myself back to that point both mentally and physically.”
Fast-forward to today, and those extra steps have helped mold Marsten into one the rotation's main anchors down the stretch. Compared to other standout arms that have come and gone in the last month, Marsten’s five starts haven’t been anything earth-shattering. Still, they’ve been solid enough to set Brewster up for success more often than not. With Marsten as their leadoff arm, the Whitecaps have gone 3-1-1 thus far this year.
Across those outings, what haunted Marsten the most is an inability to make it past the fourth inning. In each of his first four starts, he didn’t pitch more than the first 3 ⅔ innings — usually due to a sudden rough stretch of walks, easy hits allowed or a combination of both. His middle-of-the-road 3.33 ERA doesn’t suggest it, but with each passing start his confidence has still grown — largely because of the different batteries he’s been a part of every night.
“Early on, (the catchers) were giving me all the confidence I had. They were calling pitches, making sure I had everything I needed to be ready to go. We had conversations before games, after games letting me know what players are looking for and where the umpire wants the ball. They’re the leaders out there.”
In his last start on Tuesday — an all-important matchup against Bourne — Shevchik finally let Marsten stretch out to the max. His decision paid off.
Holding the Braves silent in the first, Marsten put his start in jeopardy by allowing a two-run homer in the next frame. A hit-by-pitch on the next batter would’ve normally spelled the end of his night in previous outings, but Shevchik gave Marsten a chance to bounce back. Over the next four frames, he rose to the challenge.
Showing flashes of the command he and Del Rosso had been working toward all season, Marsten held Bourne hitless the rest of the night. Although he still allowed a trio of runners aboard during the span due to a pair of walks and another hit-by-pitch, Marsten stranded them all. Thanks to his efforts through the first six frames that evening, Brewster was able to eventually jump ahead in the seventh, 4-2, which proved to be the final score.
“Duncan was unbelievable,” Shevchik said. “Little by little — I know I keep saying this — his outings haven't been great, but he's been gaining confidence every time he steps out there. And today was kind of the end result of the entire summer.”
Even if Marsten’s dealt with his fair share of growing pains, Brewster’s pitching staff has refused to give up on him. His 24 ⅓ innings of work total this season (as both starter and reliever) currently stand as the most of any Whitecap in 2025, reflecting their season-long belief that he could find another gear. Now, Marsten is finally starting to turn the corner at the right time.
As Brewster closes in on its return to the postseason, Marsten is well aware he will need to be at his best if the Whitecaps want to go all the way. Unlike at Wake Forest this past spring, he’ll likely be called upon when it matters most with everything on the line. Thanks to his team’s constant support since Day 1, he’s now ready to shine when the lights are brightest as one of its most dependable starting arms.
“It’s definitely been a journey, but it’s just fun to be out here. At the beginning it was fun to kind of form a little group and go on a run. Now, there’s new guys obviously, but everybody’s doing their part and contributing. It’s awesome to be a part of it, whether that’s as a starter or reliever. We’re all just out here and we’re just trying to get wins.”
Title photo credit: Casey Bayne.
