COTUIT, Mass. — One inning is all it takes to flip a game from a win to a loss, and in their past three games the Whitecaps have learned that all too well.
Just one inning into its home matchup with Chatham on June 2, Brewster saw itself fall into a 7-0 hole less than three outs into the game — one it never fully recovered from. The next day, the Whitecaps sat pretty with a 3-1 lead over the defending CCBL champion Harwich Mariners midway through the third. Across the next two innings, Brewster allowed the opposition to crawl back into the game — ultimately settling for a 3-3 tie.
The two blown leads were tough pills to swallow, but an Independence Day rematch with Harwich night after presented a shot at redemption. Instead, another mid-game lapse spelled Brewster’s demise. Tied at two through six innings, the Whitecaps’ bullpen suddenly became a shell of itself in the seventh and allowed nine hits in the top half of the frame. The only Fourth of July fireworks that day for Brewster came from the frustrated coaches in its bullpen.
Needing a confidence-building win on the road against Cotuit (7-10-1), the Whitecaps (9-8-1) only found more reason for frustration. After playing the Kettleers close for the first 5.5 innings, another nightmarish half inning of defense led to an embarrassing loss. Scoring 14 runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Kettleers ballooned their deficit up to a towering 19-3 cushion that proved to be the final score. Cotuit’s 21 hits and 19 runs marked the most by any CCBL team in a single game this campaign.
“The only thing you can do is play another game tomorrow,” Shevchik said postgame. “Everything could be different tomorrow.”
Usually serving as the Whitecaps’ sturdy backbone against tough competition, its pitching staff had allowed a combined 29 hits and 26 runs across its past few outings entering Saturday. Heading into its third meeting of the campaign with Cotuit — its first as the road team — Brewster’s pitching staff was in an unfamiliar spot. For the first time this season, its rotation of arms had something to prove Saturday night. They needed a performance to hang their hat on.
Amid a litany of relievers slowly making the transition into starters, Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik opted to open the contest with an experienced arm on the mound. He wanted someone who was hungry for a bounce back performance. Trevor Hansen (UC Irvine) fit the bill.
In his first appearance in Chatham, he left much to be desired. Through three innings pitched, the righty allowed 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB and only threw a pair of strikeouts. He was also heavily overshadowed by Anglers ace JT Quinn (Georgia), who’s 9 Ks through five frames stole the show.
While Hansen’s second outing wasn’t as clean as he would have liked, it wasn’t entirely his fault.
After escaping a jam in the bottom of the first with two runners on base, Hansen walked onto the mound in the second with a bit more breathing room. Thanks to a clutch Ryan Martin (Dallas Baptist) homer on just his second hit of the summer, the Whitecaps' defense now had a two-run lead to play with. Hansen opened the frame with a four-pitch strikeout, but stumbled the rest of the way. Two singles combined with a Cal Fisher (Florida State) fielding error at shortstop quickly brought the Kettleers within one.
As Brewster’s bats continued to strand runners on base — five total between the second and fourth innings alone — Hansen continued to sink further into a funk. Still, Shevchik made his starter stay on the mound until he’d allowed a whopping seven hits before finally pulling the plug. After all, the Whitecaps’ skipper had no choice.
At this point in the season, Shevchik has made it clear his team can’t afford to go through a plethora of arms in each game going forward. With only a limited amount of pitching talent now at his disposal, Shevchik knows squeezing as many innings as possible out of his rotation is paramount — a big reason why Douglas Bauer (Ohio State) was forced to wear 6 ER amid Brewster’s seventh-inning crumble against Harwich.
Now trailing 3-2, the ‘Caps turned to Haiden Leffew (Wake Forest), who had been called upon more than any other reliever up to that point. Before Saturday, his 15.0 IP led the Whitecaps’ bullpen. Usually a hot hand, even he couldn’t shut down the Kettleers' momentum.
The first batter Leffew faced launched a single into right field, scoring the runner at third. Reliable as always, Brendan Lawson (Florida) kept Brewster within shouting distance with a solo homer and gave its dugout something to rally behind — his second through five appearances this season.
“He might be one of the best players Brewster has seen in my tenure,” Shevchik said of Lawson. “To have him here this year and next year is huge. We just gotta fill in the pieces around him.”
With Brewster only trailing 5-3 halfway through the sixth inning, it was still anybody’s game. Then, history repeated itself. Just like it had seen against Chatham and Harwich across the past few days, one putrid defensive inning again took Brewster completely out of the ballgame.
In the bottom of the sixth inning alone, the Kettleers went through their order twice and logged 11 total hits — including 6 singles, 2 doubles and 3 straight home runs. When the dust finally settled, the Whitecaps were left staring down an unbelievable 19-3 deficit going into the seventh. Three outs later, the mercy rule came into effect and put Brewster out of its misery.
“I didn’t say a single word to them today,” Shevchik said when asked what his postgame message to the team was. “Nothing you can say really that’s gonna make a difference. This is one of those days where you sleep on it and come up with the right words tomorrow.”
Title photo credit: Kayla McCullough.
