Pimental amidst his start Friday evening in Falmouth. Photo credit: Sadie Parker
By Mark Rappaport
FALMOUTH—On a warm buggy night at Guv Fuller Field, the Brewster Whitecaps (6-10-2) looked destined to roll on into a much-needed win, though it was not to be Friday evening.
Starter Javyn Pimental (Missouri) dealt throughout the first four innings, holding the last-place Commodores (6-10-2) scoreless. Everything was heading the Whitecaps’ way as they held an early 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning.
That fifth proved to be a nightmare for Pimental, which is uncharacteristic of the southpaw who had been lights-out all year for Brewster. He could not record an out against the Commodores in the frame, loading the bases with one run already in.
Pimental finished the night, pitching four innings with four earned runs alongside six hits, three walks, one strikeout and a no-decision for the southpaw.
Carson Swilling (South Alabama) came into the game to relieve Pimental and was unable to shut down a scorching hot Falmouth offense building off a season-high thirteen runs Thursday evening against Chatham.
The fatal blow came off a go-ahead RBI single by Gavin Kilen (Louisville), scoring Tyler MacGregor (Northeastern) to take a 5-4 lead. Falmouth extended their lead to 6-4 after a wild pitch scored Walker Janek (Sam Houston State).
“Prevent the big inning,” head coach Jamie Shevchik said about how to improve after the loss. “It’s disappointing because we kind of scratched and crawled and fought through at-bats just to try to score a run here, a run there, had a lead and you know we just didn’t take care of the baseball.”
Swilling, Brennen Oxford (Florida State) and Brennan Phillips (Oklahoma State) combined to silence Falmouth out of the bullpen over the final three innings, keeping Brewster in the game down just two runs, but the damage had already been done.
In the eighth, right fielder Jaime Ferrer (Florida State) walked to lead off the inning, eventually advancing to third off a wild pitch and a groundout. With two outs in the inning, pinch hitter Mason White (Arizona) hit a soft infield single, scoring Ferrer and cutting the deficit in half to just one run. Davis Diaz (Vanderbilt) walked and White advanced to third on a wild pitch.
Diaz walks in the eighth inning, flipping his bat back to the dugout. Photo credit: Sadie Parker
With two outs in the inning and runners on first and third, Brewster had a prime opportunity to tie or take the lead with center fielder Will Turner (South Alabama) up at the plate. However, Turner was not able to come through and struck out, stranding two runners on base.
In the ninth, Brewster again had an opportunity to tie the game. Brock Tibbitts (Indiana) walked to lead off the inning, giving Brewster a chance to take the lead with the go-ahead run at the plate against Falmouth closer KC Hunt (Mississippi State).
Once again, Brewster could not capitalize, leaving Tibbitts at first and dropping a fourth straight game.
Brewster’s offense was a mixed bag Friday evening as they mustered five runs on 11 hits. However, the Whitecaps left 10 runners on base, an ongoing issue for Brewster as of late.
Trevor Werner (Texas A&M) led Brewster’s offense, going 4-for-5 on the night with two doubles, two singles and an RBI.
“[I feel] pretty comfortable and confident in the box right now,” Werner said. “Baseball is a game of adjustments…I hit the double on the first at-bat and then [he] left the second one in the at-bat a little bit up and [I] got another double there.”
Werner has been the main staple of Brewster’s offense, though one player cannot carry the entire team, which has been proven over Brewster’s four-game losing streak.
“He’s probably, you know, 50% of the offense, if not more,” Shevchik said. “There’s a handful of guys that kind of stepped up a little bit here today, too, so we can’t just rely on one guy.”
Brewster looks to return to the win column Saturday evening against the first-place Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox at Red Wilson Park at 4:45 p.m.