HYANNIS, Mass. — Hours before Wednesday’s game, Whitecaps manager Jamie Shevchik called his players together for a meeting.

While the team was currently amid a three-game skid, the topic never came up during the discussion. Instead, Shevchik kept things simple: You’re either in for the long haul, or you can be replaced. There was no in between. His lineup had no room for quitters.

“If you have that quit gene in you, then you carry that gene for the rest of your life,” Shevchik said postgame.

Faced with the prospect of seeing their losing streak snowball to four, the Whitecaps (7-3, 1-2 Eastern) dug deep and returned to the win column with a sound 6-1 victory over the Harbor Hawks (6-3-1, 4-1). Led by Blake Cyr’s (Florida) three hits and two RBIs, eight different Brewster batters recorded at least a hit and combined for a season-high 13 on the night. Its defense also enjoyed a bounceback performance, tripping into just one error and turning in eight innings of shutout baseball.

“I’m kind of all about the team. I don’t really care about my individual success,” Cyr said. “As long as this team’s rolling, then I’m happy and we’re having fun. I think that’s just who I am as a person.”

Although Shevchik assured his team the night before it wasn’t time to panic, there was certainly still room for some concern. A once undefeated team was now constantly shooting itself in the foot, especially throughout its last couple games. Through their first seven contests of the season, the Whitecaps’ defense showed stability by stumbling into just six combined errors, but in their last two outings they had fallen into an uncharacteristic seven.

Errors haven’t been the only part of Brewster’s game that have stung it amid its recent slump. Since putting up a season-high 10 hits in Bourne on June 20th, the Whitecaps’s order has also struggled to string together hits consistently. Out of its past 27 innings before Wednesday, Brewster’s bats only registered at least a hit in eight of them. Not exactly an ideal offensive strategy.

That’s why against Hyannis, Shevchik switched things up a bit to try and bring a spark to his order. Removing talent like leadoff man Josiah Ragsdale (Boston College) from the lineup — who held a league-best nine RBIs — was a bold choice, but it paid off early for Brewster.

In his usual three-hole spot, Daniel Cuvet (Miami) knocked a single into play on just the second pitch he faced, and was quickly brought home by Cyr’s double on the next at bat.

“You usually choose the nine best on the lineup, and I think what we need to do (from now on) figure out who are the nine guys who play best together,” Shevchik said.

But for the second straight game, Brewster’s early advantage was short-lived, even with Team USA-bound Jacob Dudan (NC State) on the bump for the first two innings. Entering his final appearance with the ‘Caps of 2025, Dudan had yet to play a bad inning through his two starts thus far. Through nine innings pitched, he torched opposing batters with a combined seven strikeouts and allowed just two walks behind his fastball, sinker and four-seam combo.

After striking out the Hawks in order in the first, he made a rare throwing error and walked two batters in the next frame. Although his miscues ultimately led to Hyannis finding home plate, he still limited the damage to single run. From there, Brewster’s bullpen took over for the remainder of the contest.

With the score now tied, the Whitecaps needed to find a quick punch back to avoid letting any more momentum creep into Hyannis’ dugout. Two innings later, Brewster’s new-look batting order delivered.

With one out, Ty Head (NC State) lofted a single into right field and moments later stole second. Another base hit off Adam Magpoc’s (Boston College) bat sent him home to restore Brewster’s one-run edge. Without Josiah Ragsdale (Boston College) in the lineup — who’s 10 stolen bases led the Cape League —, Magpoc attempted to make up for his absence. After stealing second, he made his way to third on a sacrifice fly and tried to snatch home plate as well, but couldn’t beat the catcher’s tag.

While Brewster’s offense has proven it can flip a game on its head by bringing in up a handful of runs in a single inning, the unit fell into a different rhythm against the Hawks. Rather than put the game out of reach all at once, the Whitecaps bats slowly moved the game further out of Hyannis reach with contributions from across its batting order. From the fifth inning on, Brewster managed at least a single hit in all but one frame.

At the top of the fifth with two runners on, Colton Coates (Louisiana Tech) grew Brewster’s lead to 3-1 with an RBI single — his second base hit of the day. Following Hyannis’ pitching change an inning later, Dalton Wentz (Wake Forest) greeted the new pitcher with a single of his own. Although the Whitecaps failed to bring him home, his effort set the table for a Cyr double and Alex Sosa (NC State) RBI in the seventh.

“Players feed off him,” Shevchik said of Cyr. “Does it happen only when he’s having success? That’s the question we may never know the answer to.”

Down to their fifth pitcher out of the bullpen, the Hawks tasked reliever Tommy O’Rourke (Vanderbilt) with keeping the score respectable at 4-1 in the final inning. But once again, the Brewster bats had their way.

On O’Rouke’s first at bat, Wentz welcomed him to the game with a line drive double into deep right field. On the first pitch he faced, Cyr kept his highlight-reel outing going with his third hit and second RBI of the day to score Wentz. Now completely rattled, O’Rourke put the cherry on top of his tough relief outing with a wild pitch that gave Cyr plenty of time to slide home.

With the game all but decided at 6-1, Shevchik placed Zach Bates (Illinois) on the mound to secure the save. He did just that, capping off a much-needed strong outing from the Whitecaps’ defense. By the final out, Hyannis’ lowly three hits tied the least by any of Brewster’s opponents this season.

“We just brought that energy that we know how to bring, and I think it just brought us together,” Cyr said. “Baseball’s going to happen, but we’re back on the right track.”

Title photo credit: Casey Bayne.