By Finn Riley
Bourne, M.A. ー In a rematch of the 2021 Cape Cod League championship series, the Brewster Whitecaps fell short in a 5-3 loss to the Bourne Braves on opening day.
The Braves came out of the gate swinging as they jumped to a 3-0 lead through the first three innings, with the first run coming off of a fielder’s choice, and the next two off of a two-run single.
The Whitecaps offense responded in the top of the fourth by tacking on three more runs to tie the game, courtesy of a Grayson Tatrow (Abilene Christian) sacrifice fly, a passed ball, and a fielder’s choice.
However, the Whitecaps failed to push across any more runs for the remainder of the game, and failed to capitalize with runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the 8th.
The Whitecaps pitching couldn’t quite hold off the Braves offense, as they pushed across a run in both the sixth and eighth innings.
After the game, Coach Shevchik delivered his insight on how his team performed on opening day: “I like the way we swung the bat today […] we were fielding one more ball cleanly away from turning this thing around […] I was proud of the way they played, we certainly have some talent here.”
The Whitecaps out-hit the Braves today, recording eight hits to their seven. With Brennan Millone (Oregon) exploding for three hits, as well as scoring one of the three runs for the Whitecaps.
Millone is coming off of a red-hot offensive season for the Oregon Ducks, boasting a .337 batting average with 12 home runs and 55 runs batted in. Having only a week after the Ducks’ regional loss, Millone said: “It feels good to jump right back into it and face some good pitchers again and get after it with these guys.”
With this being the beginning of the summer for the Whitecaps, Coach Shevchik noted how happy he is to be back: “I’ve been counting down the days since the end of December I think […] If I could stay here and play 100 games and stay here in October I probably would.”
While the Whitecaps may not have started the season the way they would have liked, they have plenty of reason to feel confident in their ability to hit the ball heading into the home opener against the Y-D Red Sox.