BREWSTER, Mass. — Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Though not about sports specifically, his words ring true on the field. In athletics, as in life, adversity reveals true character—and it often shapes the outcome of a season, a game, or even a single inning.

And if there’s any team currently standing in the thick of adversity, it’s the Brewster Whitecaps. They’re coming off a 19-run drubbing that included a 14-run inning—the third most ever allowed in a single frame in Cape League history. The day before? A 10-2 loss where an eight-run inning spoiled the Fourth of July.

Morale is at rock bottom. But from here, there’s only one direction left to go: up.

To the plate with a shot at redemption—or at the very least, a step forward after five steps back—were the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. And if there’s been any silver lining for Brewster this season, it’s Hyannis. After an early one-run win, the Whitecaps snapped a three-game skid with a much-needed 6-1 victory over the Hawks in mid-June. Sunday felt familiar.

A day after a historic defeat, Brewster flipped the script. A new day, a new opportunity—and a chance to look more like the team that started 6-0, not the one coming off back-to-back blowouts. Tegan Kuhns (Tennessee) was the tone-setter, punching out nine across 5.1 innings of one-run ball. His dominance built momentum, and the offense followed. Back-to-back three-run innings in the fourth and fifth cracked the game open, aided by four Hyannis (9-7-3) errors but fueled by a relentless team effort. The Whitecaps (10-8-1) responded when they needed it most, and walked away with a resounding 10-4 win.

“All these guys want to win. We don't like losing,” Alex Sosa (Miami) said. “I think our last game we played—we lost by way more than we should ever lose by. And I think that was definitely eye-opening… we definitely had a different kind of hunger today.”

A recurring theme in Brewster’s recent losses has been the collapse of a single inning—just one frame where everything unravels. And when it does, the energy to respond often disappears with it. Head coach Jamie Shevchik has stressed the need for pitchers to battle, but also the importance of early offense. Brewster can’t keep relying on perfect pitching—they need to strike first and play with urgency from the jump.

On Sunday, Brewster did just that. Kuhns delivered a near-perfect start, flashing the strikeout dominance he’s shown all summer. The first two innings were a bit shaky—two runners in each—but timely strikeouts and a heads-up back pick by Carson Tinney (Texas) helped him escape. From there, he took control.

Kuhns cruised through the third and fourth innings with back-to-back one-two-three frames and four strikeouts, then added two more punchouts in the fifth despite allowing a triple. He stranded the runner at third and, by the time the dust settled, Kuhns had piled up nine strikeouts through five innings—delivering exactly the kind of steady, commanding outing Brewster has been searching for.

“Saved his best outing for the most important day that we’ve had so far up to this point,” Shevchik said. “He was absolutely dominant and lights out, and wanted to go pitch more.”

And while recent final scores may not always show it, Brewster’s offense has quietly turned a corner. Once a key weakness during a string of low-scoring losses, the bats have come alive—and that trend continued on Sunday.

After plating a run in the third, Brewster put together a big inning in the fourth. Dalton Wentz (Wake Forest) dropped a single into center, putting two on for Sosa, who stepped in with a pivotal opportunity. In games past, Brewster has struggled to capitalize in those moments, sometimes letting opponents claw their way back. But Sosa wasn’t letting that happen.

After a summer he’s called a “humbling experience”—full of loud outs, deep fly balls, and little to show for it—Sunday marked his long-awaited breakthrough. Sosa smashed a ball into the right-center gap and over the wall for a three-run homer, his first in a Brewster uniform.

“I feel like I've been hitting the ball well, just right at people,” Sosa said. “So I don't know what my numbers are. I try to stay away from that and just stay on the good feels... but anytime the ball is falling, it's always a good day.”

The offensive surge continued in the fifth, as Ryan Martin (Dallas Baptist)—a day removed from his first Brewster homer—kept things rolling. The JUCO product from Georgia Highlands punched an RBI single to the right side, and a balk plus a force out added another run to make it 7-0.

Before handing the ball over, Shevchik gave Kuhns a shot at the sixth. But after just one out, the call was made to bring in Nate Brittain (Wake Forest). Shevchik took an extra moment on the mound with Kuhns—offering a personal thank-you to the right-hander for what he’s brought to Brewster this summer. Kuhns leaves with a 1.35 ERA over 13.1 innings, capped by 20 strikeouts—including nine more on Sunday.

“It’s tough to see some of these guys go home,” Shevchik said. “Because even in the first couple weeks, you kind of form a little bit of a bond with them.”

Brittain, however, ran into trouble immediately. Two hit batters and a bases-clearing double quickly cut into the lead, as Hyannis clawed back to make it 7-3. But Brewster refused to let the game tilt.

The tone was set again in the sixth, where Cal Fisher (Florida State) embodied the team’s energy. In a gritty 10-pitch at-bat, he fouled off six offerings, hyping himself up between pitches—and bringing the dugout with him—before lofting a sac fly to left to score another run.

“The message before the game was we talked about the offensive approaches,” Shevchik said. “We have opportunities to score runs, we've got to do it right. So it was awesome to see what Cal did today, because that's exactly what we talked about in the pregame today.”

Fisher wasn’t done. In the eighth, after Carson Kerce doubled, Fisher stepped in looking to shorten things up—no long at-bat needed this time. He jumped on the first pitch and crushed it to left for a two-run homer, putting the finishing touch on a complete team effort from Brewster.

A win—and the way it happened—was exactly what Brewster needed. It served as a timely reminder that slumps are part of the game, and the recent losses didn’t define who this team is. On Sunday, they showed what they’re truly capable of.

“I think everybody is going to be going through a little bit of a patch right now,” Shevchik said. “This is that middle phase that we talk about… the finish line seems so far away. So if we can get our guys through this middle part and get into that next part—and then what are the third phases—those kids, they say, ‘We’ve been here for several weeks already, screw it, let’s go try to win a championship.’”

Title photo credit: Kayla McCullough.