First baseman Ike Irish slides into home plate safely in the second inning to give Brewster an early 2-0 lead. Photo credit: Sadie Parker
By Mark Rappaport
BREWSTER—In a game of blown leads, the Brewster Whitecaps (4-2-2) tied the Wareham Gatemen (5-3), 4-4, in ten innings after a two-run blast by the Gatemen in the eighth.
It was that eighth inning that will come back to haunt the Whitecaps. Brewster was ahead 4-2 and with two outs in the inning, head coach Jamie Shevchik brought in closer Ben Gorski (Rutgers) to record a four-out save.
“Obviously [we’d] like to win, but you know, I thought it was a good game all around,” Whitecaps pitching coach Brian Del Rosso said. “You’d like to, you know, have a couple pitches back but I think overall that’s a baseball game.”
However, it was not to be. Gorski, who had been dominant for Brewster in two appearances, gave up a home run on the first pitch of his outing to center fielder David Glancy (St. John’s) to tie the game at four runs apiece.
In the ninth inning, the Whitecaps found themselves at the brink of falling behind in the game with the bases loaded with one out, with leadoff hitter and second baseman Dorian Gonzalez (Miami) at the plate. The play went perfectly for Brewster, as Gonzalez grounded into a double play, ending the inning.
The Whitecaps did not score in the bottom of the ninth and neither did Wareham in the top of the tenth, giving Brewster a prime chance to win the game in the bottom of the tenth.
Going into that tenth inning, Brewster looked like they were poised to win the game with a runner on second base to start the inning and Jaime Ferrer (Florida State) at the plate, who up to this point in the game was 3-3 with a home run and a walk.
Jaime Ferrer was clutch for Brewster Monday evening. The right fielder was 3-4, with one home run and a walk. Photo credit: Sadie Parker
Before Ferrer could deliver Brewster a lead, pinch runner Mason White (Arizona) attempted to steal third base and was caught in a rundown. The Whitecaps lost their free runner and all momentum.
Gatemen reliever Lucas Mahlstedt (Wofford) recorded the final two outs of the game, forcing Ferrer to fly out and first baseman Ike Irish (Auburn) to ground out, securing the tie for Wareham.
Monday evening was a game of missed opportunities for Brewster, both offensively and on the mound.
The Whitecaps broke the deadlock in the second inning off a two-RBI single by designated hitter Brock Tibbitts (Indiana), scoring Ferrer and Irish.
Brewster maintained their lead until the top of the fifth inning when the Gatemen scored two runs off reliever Andrew Sentlinger (North Carolina State). Then, the Whitecaps struck back in the bottom of the inning off of a two-run bomb by Ferrer, giving the Whitecaps a two-run lead once again.
“It was awesome. I know I haven’t been hitting the way that I know I should be, so being able to help the team out and get the pitch that I was looking for and not miss it was huge for me,” Ferrer said.
The score remained the same until the eighth when Brewster gave up the lead to Glancy’s Gatemen.
Brewster’s starting pitcher Josh Timmerman was immaculate for Brewster, giving everything Shevchik and Del Rosso could have wanted and much more. Timmerman pitched four innings, giving up no hits and only one walk, along with five punch outs.
“I just tried to attack the zone. Vary things, try to get ahead,” Timmerman said. “It was nice to come out here and work for a few innings when I was trying to attack the zone the whole time.”
Timmerman pitching amidst his dominant outing against Wareham. The righty did not give up a hit through four innings of work. Photo credit: Sadie Parker
Del Rosso had a lot of praise for Timmerman after his stellar outing.
“He was nails. I thought he came out and pitched really well, pounding the zone and kept hitting off balance all day,” Del Rosso said.
Although the game did not go the way that the Whitecaps wanted, it was very memorable for Shevchik. Wareham’s head coach, Ryan Smyth, served as an assistant coach with Brewster ever since Shevchik was hired by Brewster in 2015.
As if that was not enough, Smyth currently serves as an assistant coach under Shevchik at Keystone College in Pennsylvania and has been in that role for twelve seasons. It was only natural that the two teams tied in their first matchup in 2023.
The Whitecaps will look to return to the win column Tuesday evening against the Harwich Mariners at Whitehouse Field at 6:30 p.m.