YARMOUTH, Mass. — During each of the first two matchups this season between the Whitecaps and Red Sox, there’s been an additional sense of pressure surrounding them.

In their inaugural meeting on Opening Day, a 1-0 start to the campaign was at stake — something only half the league’s teams can achieve in any given season. The Whitecaps claimed that all-important first victory in comeback fashion, sparking a historic undefeated streak that they carried into their next clash with Y-D about a week later.

Sitting as the Cape’s hottest team with a spotless 6-0 record, it was Brewster’s game to lose. The Red Sox, on the other hand, were playing loose just one game above .500. After being held silent virtually the entire contest, the 'Caps' bats woke up in the eighth and ninth, but it was too little too late as their string of perfection was finally snapped.

Given a third crack at Yarmouth-Dennis on Friday, more was on the line than ever for both sides. With the clubs separated by only one point atop the standings, the victor would walk off the field that night in first place. In other words, Brewster had a shot to exact revenge on the first team to remind it what losing felt like this season. It did so emphatically.

With an opportunity to return to first place, the Whitecaps (13-8-1) put up a 10-spot against the Red Sox (12-8-2) behind strong starting pitching from Haiden Leffew (Texas) and an offensive outburst across the first five innings in a 10-5 rout at Red Wilson Field.

“We’re showing up happy and we wanna be here. Later in the season, that’s what it comes down to,” Michael Anderson (Penn State) said postgame. “These guys always show up, and it's a good day when we’re on the ballfield together. I can’t ever complain.”

You didn’t need to be a baseball expert to notice how much both teams' lineups had changed in the past month since they last clashed. Just six of the players who started last time the two squads met still remained in the field to open Friday’s contest — a testament to the inevitable roster turnover all teams on the Cape go through. Although for the Whitecaps, one variable remained constant: Leffew.

Among all Brewster pitchers, only Leffew had appeared in both meetings against Y-D thus far. Through 4 2/3 innings pitched versus the Red Sox out of the bullpen, he had racked up just two walks, one hit and seven strikeouts against their batters. Leffew was familiar with the opponent, but his role in Friday’s game was anything but. After being counted on as a relief arm in his past six games, he was tasked with making his first start that evening.

Regardless, the new Longhorn looked right at home on the bump through the first few innings. Even though the Red Sox’s lineup looked vastly different from the ones he had faced in the past, Leffew picked up right where he left off in his last outing versus Y-D.

One blistering fastball at a time, he left the heart of Y-D’s order shaking their heads up until the start of the fourth inning, where back-to-back walks put an end to his first career start on the Cape. He finished the outing with one hit, two earned runs and five punchouts to his name.

“(Leffew) heads out of town tomorrow, and that’s one of the reasons why we wanted to get him in there and extend him one more time from the starting role,” Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik said.

Inheriting the two baserunners, it was up to Camden Wimbish (NC State) to uphold Leffew’s shutout. Given a chance to redeem himself after surrendering five hits and three earned runs in his last appearance against Y-D, Wimbish again faltered. He started off his day by hitting the first two batters he faced with misplaced pitches, ultimately giving the Red Sox a sliver of momentum through a three-run burst in the frame.

Of course, the rest of the momentum still belonged to the Whitecaps, who already held a dominant 9-3 advantage at that point. While Leffew was dealing on the mound, Brewster quickly got off to one of its hottest offensive starts of the campaign. A leadoff homer by Brendan Lawson (Florida) to open the contest in the first — his team-high third of the campaign — only foreshadowed the offensive assault that came next.

Over the next four frames, the 'Caps continued to pad their lead and showed no signs of stopping. During the one-sided span, three different Whitecaps notched multiple hits and six put up at least an RBI. Chief among them was Anderson, who finally broke through for his first two RBIs as a Whitecap after only contributing through hits in his first five appearances.

He finished his highlight-reel outing with a team-high three hits and three RBIs, including a homer to bring in Brewster’s 10th run. The roundtripper marked just one of the 'Caps three that evening.

“I love this game so much, and just being able to play it again is so awesome,” Anderson said after being benched much of this past spring. “Just play the game, just have fun, and when your opportunity comes, just gotta make the most of it. That’s how I’ve been treating it.”

Even with the now-seven-run cushion to take some of the pressure off his shoulders, Wimbish still couldn’t find his footing. His command remained shaky and the Red Sox capitalized, ushering in a pair of runs behind two singles and two doubles in the bottom of the fifth.

With Brewster’s bats now snakebitten, Shevchik gave Wimbish the hook and replaced him with Zach Bates (Illinois) — who had already proven his ability to close out games. Over the final two frames, he collected his second save of the year as he slowly crushed Y-D’s comeback hopes one out at a time.

With three strikeouts, Bates’ performance boosted him up to third among Whitecaps relievers with 13 total. The game was eventually called due to darkness following the seventh inning, a curtain call on the dominant Brewster win.

Just days ago, the Whitecaps momentarily became the laughingstock of the CCBL as they crashed and burned in a 19-3 bludgeoning at the hands of Cotuit. They could’ve let that losing stench linger within the dugout, but instead, they quickly turned the page. Now winners of its last four games since that day, Brewster has returned to the top of the standings for the first time in 17 days.

Who’s laughing now?

“They’ve forgotten all about that loss (to Cotuit). It feels like that was a month ago. There hasn’t even been a discussion about it,” Shevchik said. “These guys are pretty dialed in on the task at hand, and (they take) every game one at a time.”

Title photo credit: Casey Bayne