BREWSTER, Mass. — Brewster’s unbeaten run to open the 2025 season is already historic — and even head coach Jamie Shevchik isn’t sure he’s seen anything like it.

Shevchik, now in his 10th summer leading the Whitecaps and with seven more under his belt in Danbury, has been around long enough to know how rare fast starts can be. Add in more than two decades at Keystone — where he’s been a coach since 1998 and head coach since 2002 — and the resume speaks for itself.

But even with all that experience, a 5-0 start? In the Cape? That’s something different.

“I don't know if I've ever started 5-0 all my entire career at Keystone or here,” Shevchik said. “Definitely not in Danbury, Connecticut… No, I've never started 5-0.”

On Thursday, Brewster had the chance to do just that. Two days after their win over Bourne pushed them to 4-0 for the first time in recorded Cape League history, the Whitecaps faced Falmouth with a shot at something even rarer. They made it count — storming back from an early deficit with a six-run sixth inning, all with two outs, and leaning on a dominant bullpen to close the door. In a league built on turnover and unpredictability, Brewster’s start has been steady, relentless, and now, officially unprecedented. The Whitecaps took down Falmouth, 6-4, to improve to 5-0 for the first time in franchise history.

After just the first game of the season, Shevchik spoke to the importance of winning early — emphasizing how much deeper teams are on the mound at the start compared to the end.

“All the best pitchers are here now… It's gonna happen to us… After July 12, our entire starting rotation is gonna be gone. So while we're here, we gotta try to win as many games as we can,” Shevchik said.

Brewster (5-0, 1-0 Eastern Division) has certainly delivered on that early season urgency — and just as Shevchik predicted, pitching has played a major role. Rotation arms like Jacob Dudan (NC State) and Tyler Schmitt (Illinois) have set the tone early, giving the Whitecaps quality starts and handing games over to a bullpen that’s been lights out.

“You can't win a championship in the first week, but you can lose it,” Shevchik said. “You lose two, three games in the first week because you don't have the right team out here. Last year, we missed the playoffs by half a point. It makes all the difference.”

On Friday, Billy Barlow (Florida) added to the foundation. The right-hander threw five solid innings, allowing just two earned runs and keeping Falmouth quiet through the first three. That early control gave Brewster a rare chance to strike first, a welcome shift from its usual come-from-behind formula.

Carson Kerce (Georgia Tech) was the one to break through for Brewster, launching his first Whitecaps home run over the left-field wall to give the team a 1-0 lead in the second. His approach was clear from the start — “hacking first pitch,” as he put it — part of an offseason focus on becoming more aggressive at the plate heading into next season.

“One of the biggest things that I've kind of been working on is attacking pitches in zones that I can smash, and just being a little bit less passive as that's been my game,” Kerce said.

Brewster wasted no time adding to its early lead in the third. Ty Head (NC State) led off with a walk, and Josiah Ragsdale (Boston College) followed with a double down the right-field line to bring him home, the start of what would be a standout day for Ragsdale.

Falmouth (2-3, 0-0 Western Division) answered quickly in the fourth. After a leadoff walk, Maika Niu (Marshall) tied it with a two-run homer to left. An inning later, a hit batter and wild pitch set the stage for Bear Harrison (Texas A&M), who knocked in the go-ahead run with an RBI single. After a fast start, Brewster found itself in a familiar position — chasing the game again, despite feeling like they were out front early.

Postgame, Shevchik noted that a running joke had started to take hold in the Brewster dugout: “When you're down by a run, it doesn't really matter, right? That we're gonna pull this thing off at some point.”

That confidence has come from experience, especially against Falmouth. Just five days earlier, the Whitecaps trailed the Commodores, 3-2, heading into the ninth and erupted for four runs to steal a dramatic win. On Friday, it was the same score, the same opponent, but the breakthrough came earlier. This time, the four-run surge happened in the sixth, and once again, it flipped the game.

Dalton Wentz (Wake Forest) opened the sixth with a double, but after two strikeouts from Conner Linn (Northern Kentucky), Brewster was on the verge of stranding another runner in scoring position. Then came a momentum shift: three straight free passes, including back-to-back hit batters, loaded the bases for Head. On a full count, Head took ball four, roared in celebration toward the dugout, and tossed his bat aside as the game tied at 3-3.

Josiah Ragsdale followed with the defining blow — a two-run single to right, giving Brewster the lead. It was his second hit, third RBI, and he added two stolen bases to push his Cape stats to a .400 average (tied second in the CCBL), six RBIs (tied first), five steals (first) and a .905 OPS.

After Blake Cyr (Florida) beat out an infield single, Brewster’s lead stretched to three, the exclamation point on a four-run sixth inning in response to trailing Falmouth by one. But with plenty of game left, the Commodores still had time to answer.

The problem? Brewster’s bullpen has been among the league’s best. Coming into Thursday, through 21 1/3 innings of relief, Whitecaps pitchers held a 1.71 ERA with 22 strikeouts, meaning Falmouth would need to pull off a comeback that looked a lot like Brewster’s own recent heroics.

The Commodores came close, loading the bases with no outs in the eighth inning and scoring a run. With the tying run on second and the go-ahead run at first, tension was at its peak. But Zach Bates (Illinois) rose to the occasion, striking out the next batter to halt the rally and pitching a perfect ninth to seal Brewster’s fifth straight win — another hard-fought finish for a team that knows how to make things interesting.

That kind of success comes from having the flexibility to mix and match bullpen arms, a major advantage for Shevchik. Knowing each pitcher’s comfort zone and strengths allows him to deploy the right arm at the right moment.

“(Bates is) used to coming in (those spots),” Shevchik said. “I think trying to get to know where these kids are comfortable, figuring out what they're used to at school, and then using them in similar roles — trying not to get them too far out of their comfort zone. There are going to be times where Martsen is going to have to stay out there and get through it on his own. But while we have the bullets available to us, we're going to use it.”

Title photo credit: Casey Bayne.