BREWSTER, Mass. — Eight innings into the final game of the regular season, Stony Brook Field felt like it might burst. The humid Cape Cod air crackled with tension—not because Brewster’s playoff fate hung in the balance (their No. 3 seed was secure), but because they refused to go quietly. Across the diamond stood the red-hot Orleans Firebirds, winners of seven straight and just one victory away from clinching the division crown.

For most of the night, Brewster looked lifeless—scoreless since the second inning, their energy drained, their season-long rollercoaster threatening to end with a whimper. When Orleans pushed across a fourth run in the eighth, it felt like the knockout punch. But with two outs, Brody DeLamielleure (Florida State) ripped a sharp RBI single up the middle, slicing the lead and jolting the dugout. Suddenly, the stands stirred, electricity surged, and what had seemed like a quiet farewell roared back to life.

Brewster hadn’t found success in close contests this season—they’d lost their last four one-run games, and five of their last six finishes were blowouts. It had been all or nothing. Now, for the first time in weeks, they were in a thriller—and poised to shake things up.

“Orleans, the streak that they just went on—they played a bunch of one-run games,” head coach Jamie Shevchik said. “They had a couple walk-offs right there. That’s the sign of a really good team… I always thought we were a team that can come back, if it’s close enough.”

Zach Bates (Illinois) took the mound with pressure mounting. His steady 2.54 ERA and recent dominant outing had earned quiet confidence. He was flawless—flyout, strikeout, groundout—three sharp outs that kept Brewster breathing and ignited the team.

Bottom of the ninth. One run down. Nothing to lose. The message was clear.

“We're going to win this thing right now…This means nothing to us if we're not going to win it right now,” Shevchik said.

Mason Koch (Auburn), one of Orleans’ top arms, stepped in—solid all season with a 2.93 ERA. Simple task: get three outs, seal the division.

But Brewster had other plans.

Cal Fisher (Florida State) led off—the team’s relentless heartbeat. Not flashy, but locked in pitch to pitch, talking himself through each swing. After fouling off an 0-1 pitch, he chopped a high bouncer to third. Ryan Kucherak (Northwestern) scooped it clean and fired to first—but the throw pulled the baseman off the bag.

Safe. The tying run stood on first.

That was all Orleans skipper Kelly Nicholson needed.

Enter Steele Murdock (UC San Diego), the Cape’s most feared closer—by name, numbers, and sheer presence. He didn’t just finish games; he slammed them shut. League-best eight saves, 24 strikeouts in 16.1 innings, and just three earned runs all summer. When Murdock entered, the air grew heavier—like the game itself held its breath.

Carson Kerce (Georgia Tech) stepped up, carrying grit after summer surgery removed a cyst from his face. Most players would’ve bowed out. “He’s a unicorn,” Shevchik said—one of those rare warriors who push through when others fold. Kerce came back to win.

First pitch from Murdock—and Kerce crushed a fastball sharply up the middle.

Just like that, the tying run was in scoring position, the go-ahead run on first. Stony Brook Field buzzed with anticipation.

Next up: Carson Tinney (Texas), who homered in the ninth the night before and led the team in homers over the past month. Bases loaded, ready to deliver.

Murdock worked the count—ball one, ball two—trying to coax Tinney out of the zone. But Tinney stood firm. Pinned inside, Murdock fired a fastball, and Tinney hammered a line drive straight to short.

Elijah Ickes (Hawai’i) was perfectly positioned and snagged it—a potential double play in motion.

But Fisher, warned all inning to “freeze on a line drive,” had strayed too far off second. Lunging back, diving to tag, he was caught dead to rights.

Then disaster.

Ickes’s throw sailed wildly—missing the second baseman and skipping down the right field line. Fisher scrambled up and raced to third; Kerce, heads-up, advanced to second.

“My first initial reaction was, ‘Oh, shit,’” Shevchik admitted. “This is what the jinx looks like. And then we had a break, right? I think every big inning like that, every game, has a break.”

What should have ended the inning turned into Brewster’s biggest opportunity yet. Suddenly, every eye—coach, fan, kid—locked in tight, the atmosphere electric as momentum swung wildly.

Now the chess match.

Brewster had rested stars like Brendan Lawson (Florida) and Dalton Wentz (Wake Forest) all day. But with the bases loaded, Shevchik made his move—pinch-hitting Ryan Martin (Dallas Baptist) earlier, now sending Wentz to the plate for Justin Ruiz (High Point). Brewster’s two best bats, back-to-back.

Orleans intentionally walked Lawson, wisely loading the bases rather than face Brewster’s offensive player of the year.

Shevchik had one small regret—nagging in hindsight. Wentz had the power and had just been named Cape Player of the Week, but with his high strikeout total, Lawson might’ve been the smarter situational choice.

“The only thing that I would probably second-guess,” Shevchik admitted, “would be looking at it—it happened so fast with the error. And then there was a base open, maybe I would have switched Wentz and Lawson’s spots, right?”

The count climbed fast: ball one, strike one, strike two. A borderline check-swing called strike three left Wentz fighting off heat. Balls two and three skirted outside. Full count.

Then patience paid off.

Wentz worked a walk—forcing in the tying run. The place exploded, a wall of noise crashing like a tidal wave.

“The fact that Dalton goes up there, who’s got 140 punch-outs, and then walks to bring in the tying run, wow,” Shevchik joked.

Momentum was all Brewster’s.

Up stepped Adam Magpoc (San Diego State), and it almost felt like a storybook moment. Named team MVP just before the game, Magpoc had been the heart and soul of Brewster all season—doing it all when no one expected him to.

“I walked up there with a smile from ear to ear,” Magpoc said. “I was like, I can't believe I'm in this situation right now.”

Now, with the bases loaded, one out, and the game tied in the bottom of the ninth, he stood at the plate in the kind of moment every kid dreams about. With that familiar grin, he soaked it all in—ready to make it real.

The pitcher stared him down. The field held its breath.

All Magpoc wanted was a “dead red heater.”

The windup. The pitch.

A blazing fastball high and outside.

Magpoc swung like a man possessed.

The crack echoed—a soaring missile launched deep toward left field.

The outfielder sprinted back, leapt—but the ball sailed over his glove.

“I scrapped it to the warning track,” Magpoc said. “It would have been amazing to see it go over the fence. But, I mean, can't complain too much about the result.”

Kerce rounded third and dashed home.

The dugout exploded.

Brewster swarmed Magpoc in celebration. Gatorade flew. The Firebirds’ seven-game streak was snapped.

The night ended in fireworks—Brewster’s perfect, defiant farewell to the regular season.

“Of course the MVP goes up there and does what he does,” Shevchik said. “We haven’t had a walk-off, I don’t think, all summer—for it to come in the biggest moment, last game of the year. That’s the most impressive thing.”

Title photo credit: Casey Bayne.