BREWSTER, Mass. — Brewster Whitecaps left fielder Terrence Kiel II (Texas A&M) was coming off a four-pitch strikeout in his last at-bat, but as he walked toward the right-handed batter’s box in the fourth inning against the Orleans Firebirds, he knew he had a chance at redemption and the ability to take a chunk out of his team's 2-0 deficit.

The Whitecaps had the bases loaded with no outs, and Kiel had a game plan so he wouldn’t get beat again by the Firebirds left-handed starter Brennan Seiber (Vanderbilt).

“My last at-bat, I struck out on the slider,” Kiel said. “I flew out of my swing, so that at-bat, I knew I had to make the adjustment.”

Seiber attacked Kiel with another slider on the first pitch, and this time the Aggie stayed back enough to line it over the head of Orleans shortstop JD Stein (transfer portal) and into left-center field for a two-run double, tying the game.

It was the first of four runs that Brewster (4-3) scored in the fourth inning en route to beating Orleans (1-6), 4-3, Saturday evening at Stony Brook Field. The Whitecaps not only scored all their runs in one frame, but the first four of their five hits as well. And while offense was contained to just one productive inning, the short, infectious burst was enough support for the bullpen to secure the victory.

“(Hits are) always contagious,” Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik said. “When you’re getting no-hit, it feels like you're playing in quicksand. You just can’t get out of it, but once you get that first hit, it just rejuvenizes the entire dugout.”

Catcher Owen Jenkins (transfer portal) was the first member of Brewster’s lineup to get a knock, taking a 1-2 pitch from Seiber the other way into right field. Right fielder Cash Strayer (Florida) immediately followed Jenkins, sending the first pitch he saw into center.

However, it was the third at-bat of the inning that impressed Shevchik the most.

Second baseman Jamie Laskofski (North Carolina) attempted to lay down a bunt on the first pitch after being told to look for it, but he wasn’t able to connect. He then took two pitches outside of the zone before trying again, this time making contact and putting it in the perfect spot on the third base side of the diamond where no one could get to it quick enough to gun him down at first.

“Big innings, four-run innings, come with — there’s a bunt in there, there’s a stolen base in there, there’s a walk, there’s an error, there’s something that’s in there, and we were able to use the bunt today,” Shevchik said. “That was a great bunt by Jamie.

“Think about it, what he was able to accomplish by putting a ball 15 feet. He gets a base hit, his batting average goes up, we move two guys into scoring position and we wind up scoring two runs right after that.”

Kiel’s double immediately followed Laskofski’s bunt, and shortstop Jake Lambdin (Duke) and first baseman Dane Harvey (Ohio State) followed that up with a pair of sacrifice flies to conclude the Whitecaps scoring efforts. Harvey also produced the only hit outside of the fourth inning, muscling a broken-bat single into left-center.

While the slow start and the low quantity of hits didn’t come back to haunt Brewster on Saturday, the previous two times the team was no-hit the first time through the order led to hit totals below five and another tally in the loss column.

Following the game, Shevchik was candid, admitting he’s “a little bit” worried about the slow starts, despite the win.

“We’re relying on our pitching staff to be really perfect right now,” Shevchik said. “At some point, these bats are going to have to explode for two reasons: take pressure off our pitchers, and to show that we can do it.”

Only time will tell if and when the bats pop off, but luckily for the Whitecaps — and thanks to the perfect-enough efforts of the bullpen — the evening didn’t end in frustration about the dam not yet bursting.

Righties Carter Williams (Amarillo JC), Camden Wimbish (Campbell), Finbar O’Brien and Zach Kmatz (Gonzaga) combined for 5.2 innings of one-run, two-hit ball in relief of their fellow righty Mavrick Rizy (Ole Miss).

The only real trouble the bullpen found itself in came during the sixth inning, when Wimbish, making his summer debut, allowed Orleans center fielder Bub Terrell to come around and score after reaching on a catcher’s interference before loading the bases with two walks and a single.

With the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on second, Shevchik made the move to bring in O’Brien.

“I didn’t want to put that pressure on (Wimbish) on day one,” Shevchik said. “I wanted to go to a little bit more (of an) experienced guy, and when I say experienced, somebody who’s only been here for a couple days is Finbar.”

O’Brien might still be new in terms of days on the roster, but with multiple outings under his belt, he’s practically a veteran — and he pitched like one too.

The Bulldog froze Stein, the first batter he faced, with a pitch at the top of the zone to end the inning, eliminating the threat.

Shevchik sent O’Brien back out for the seventh inning, and while he hit two batters with one out, he struck out the next two he saw to pass the baton to Kmatz for the two-out save, his first of the season.

“I just spiked a couple sliders,” O’Brien said. “But had to just reset. Something that I feel like I’ve gotten good at is resetting and bearing down, getting two outs, so trusting my stuff, that’s been the main thing.”

Rizy was the only pitcher to have extended challenges on the mound. He gave up a leadoff home run to Firebirds’ left fielder Tyler Myatt (Tennessee) and allowed an error to come around and score in the first.

From the second inning until he was pulled with one out in the fourth, he allowed three free passes and had his pitch count driven up to 77.

“(Rizy’s) trying to work on certain things,” Shevchik said. “He threw 57 off-speed pitches today out of 70-some pitches. That’s not what a starter does. He’s got to go back to when he had the most success over the past three years, and that was last year out here where he was fastball heavy … his other pitches work off his best pitch, and his best pitch is a low-to-mid 90s fastball.”

Still, despite a suboptimal start to the game on both sides of the ball, the Whitecaps ended up doing just enough to defeat the Firebirds. The particular formula used on Saturday might not work again, but the offense and pitching danced in unity to get the job done. If that trend continues — ideally in a more sustainable fashion — an upper limit on the team’s potential could be hard to find.

“We have a lot of talent on this roster,” Kiel said. “We’re going to string together a lot more hits and a lot more runs; if the pitching can complement the offense, we’re going to win a lot of games.”