RIGHT FIELD FOG

Derek Bender closed out his season at Coastal Carolina on a five-game hitting streak. Two weeks off and the journey north to Bourne did nothing to cool him off. 

Bender is off to a ridiculous start for the Braves this summer. In seven games, he’s hitting .538 (14-for-26). He’s had multiple hits in five of his seven games, including a 4-for-4 performance on June 23 in which he hit for the cycle. 

He has two home runs, two doubles and a triple among his 14 hits. He’s also struck out only four times and walked four times. 

Bourne is not surprisingly 5-2 since Bender arrived. 

Y-D getting a lift

Vanderbilt and Mississippi State players often miss out on the first few weeks of the Cape Cod Baseball League season. Such is life for powerhouse programs who are regulars at the College World Series. 

Neither team made it to Omaha this year, though, and the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox have been one of the beneficiaries on the Cape. 

Mississippi State’s Hunter Hines cranked two home runs for the Red Sox on Sunday and is up to a league-best five on the year. He also leads the league with 17 RBI. 

Vanderbilt’s R.J. Austin is off to a red-hot start for Y-D since making his debut June 21. He has a hit in every game, giving him a .389 batting average in the early going. 

Y-D has gotten big production from a number of other guys, as well, including Max Viera, who leads the league in stolen bases and is batting .333. 

The Red Sox are off to an 8-5-1 start and sit in second place in the CCBL’s East Division. 

Mariners top the charts

Y-D owns two victories over Harwich in the last 10 days, but they’re the only team to beat the Mariners. No surprise, then, that Harwich has grabbed possession of first place in the East with a 9-4 record. 

It’s no surprise, given the supporting statistics. The Mariners lead the league in OPS and opponents batting average on the pitching side of things. 

Cotuit running wild as always

The Major League teams that are taking advantage of the new stolen base rules have nothing on Mike Roberts’ Cotuit teams. The Kettleers are once again leading the league in stolen bases, as they often do. 

They’re up to 32 on the year thus far. Three players – Rodney Green, Jr., Brock Rodden and Brett Bateman – are leading the way with five each. 

Whitecap in control

How about the start for Brewster pitcher Josh Timmerman? The Ohio State righty has yet to allow a run in 11.2 innings across four appearances. He didn’t even allow a hit until his start on Sunday, in which he tossed six scoreless innings. 

Strikeout star

Cotuit’s Camron Hill (Georgia Tech) has faced 32 batters so far this summer and has struck out almost half of them. Hill has 15 Ks to go along with a 0.00 ERA. 

The 2021 season was the Summer of Bourne. Until it wasn’t.

With others on center stage, the 2022 season seemed like it was not. Until it was.

For two straight years, the Bourne Braves finished with the best record in the Cape Cod Baseball League. And after a runner-up showing in the championship series last year, the Braves captured the title this year. An 8-1 victory on Thursday capped off a sweep of Brewster for the crown.

It’s the first title since 2009 for Bourne, in a season that bridged a new era. Longtime manager Harvey Shapiro left after last summer’s magical ride and former Brewster assistant coach Scott Landers took over. The roster was mostly new. And the West Division seemed to belong to Cotuit, or maybe Hyannis. A year after a historic start by Bourne and a wire-to-wire ride to the division, it was the Kettleers that were hot at the start in 2022. Then Hyannis surged to overtake Cotuit.

The Braves were in the chase pack. At the midway point of the season, they were 8-8-6, but in the second half, they started winning a little more often than they lost – and then a lot more often. A 10-3 loss to Falmouth on July 22 was their final defeat of the regular season. They went 7-0-1 over their final eight games, surging to the top of the division and to the best record in the league.

The playoffs became one giant slugfest around the Cape League. In that landscape, it was pitching that set the Braves apart. They finished with a 3.05 team ERA in the playoffs. Everyone else in the league was over 5.00 in the postseason.

While Bourne’s offense wasn’t as hot as some other teams, it helps to have the MVP. Matt Shaw of Maryland was the Cape’s best hitter, and he came through in the playoffs.

A hot team, with the MVP and better pitching than everybody else?

Pretty good recipe.

In the playoffs, the Braves split their first two games with Falmouth, but won the next one to take the series. Then they swept Hyannis to survive the rough-and-tumble West.

That set up a championship rematch with Brewster – plus a matchup of Landers and his former boss Jamie Shevchik.

The Braves set the course for the series with a 3-0 win in game one – the first shutout of the Cape League playoffs. Matt Duffy of Canisius College pitched six scoreless innings. The mid-July pickup hadn’t allowed a run in any of his appearances, but also hadn’t gone more than three innings. He came through at the right time. Seth Keener (Wake Forest) followed him with a three-inning save. The top of the lineup provided all the offense Bourne would need.

Given Brewster’s playoff ride, a three-game title series seemed very possible, but Bourne made that prospect more difficult right out of the gate with four runs in the top of the first inning. Brewster only managed to get one back, and the Braves piled on with two runs in the sixth and two in the seventh.

The MVP did MVP things, as Shaw homered off the scoreboard at Stony Brook Field in a 3-for-5, two RBI night. Leadoff man Bryce Eblin (Alabama) went 4-for-5 with two runs scored en route to playoff MVP honors. Eyan Enos (East Tennessee State) homered and drove in four.

Four pitchers combined to keep Bourne comfortably in front. Justin Baeyens (Maine) was credited with the win, and Ty Cummings (Campbell) pitched the final 3.1 innings to close it out.

On the same field where they watched Brewster celebrate last year, the Braves poured onto the field for their own party.

It’s the Summer of Bourne after all.

We’ve got a rematch. 

For the second year in a row, it’s Brewster and Bourne in the Cape Cod Baseball League championship series. The Braves will host game one on Tuesday, with Brewster hosting game two on Wednesday. If necessary, game three would be Thursday at Doran Park in Bourne. 

This is the first time since 1978 and 1979 that the Cape League finals have had the same two teams in back-to-back years. It was Hyannis and Harwich then, with Hyannis winning both matchups. 

For much of the last decade, the Cape League playoffs have been marked by parity, but that hasn’t been the case in either of the last two years. Brewster and Bourne have made the finals as the top seeds both times. 

And this year, they’ve been nearly untouchable. 

The Whitecaps swept Harwich with 9-7 and 5-3 victories in the opening round, then outlasted Yarmouth-Dennis 6-3 and 9-7 to win the East. The bats have been red-hot with six players batting over .300 in the playoffs. David Mendham (Oklahoma State) is at .545 with two home runs and Carson DeMartini (Virginia Tech) is hitting .533 with four home runs – two blasts each in the two wins over Y-D. 

Bourne was behind Cotuit and Hyannis for much of the summer, but ended the season with eight wins in its final 10 games to finish with the best record in the West and in the league. The Braves survived a three-game series with Falmouth for a spot in the West finals, then topped Hyannis 4-3 and 7-4 to clinch the title shot. It’s been a balanace attack in the postseason, with eight different players driving in runs. Cape League MVP Matt Shaw has been a little cool in the postseason but it’s a safe bet that he’ll get back on track. 

Last year’s series ended with a Brewster sweep, though the last game was a 10-6 thriller. 

Expecting more great games this time around. 

It’s always fun to look back at Cape League championship teams for perspective on how much talent they had. 

The draft provides an annual opportunity to do so, and after this year’s installment, it certainly checks out that the Brewster Whitecaps won the title last summer. 

Three former Whitecaps were selected in the first round of the draft. Gavin Cross went ninth to the Royals, Zach Neto went 13th to the Angels and Spencer Jones was selected 25th by the Yankees. 

No other team had three first-rounders. Orleans was next on the list with two – Jace Jung and Chase DeLauter.

Cross had a short stint in Brewster before heading out to join Team USA, but Neto and Jones were stalwarts. Neto left for a few weeks with an injury but came back in time for the playoffs, a rare move for a Cape Leaguer. He hit a home run in the title series decider. Jones went 3-for-5 with two RBI in the clincher, capping a terrific summer. 

Later in the draft, Whitecaps alums Dale Stanavich, Chris McElvain and Chad Castillo were also selected. 

End of the streak

The selection of high schooler Jackson Holliday with the top pick ended the Cape League’s streak of four straight years with an alumnus going as the number one overall selection. The top of the draft was heavy on high schoolers in general. Former Y-D shortstop Brooks Lee was the first Cape Leaguer off the board as he went eighth overall. 

In total, 197 Cape Leaguers were picked in the draft.

The mid-season move

The draft’s new home in the month of July has added some new wrinkles for the Cape League. It opened up the door for players like Cam Collier to play in the league, but the bigger impact now is the likely departure of some standout performers. Among the current Cape Leaguers drafted were Hyannis ace Brody McCullough, Brewster standout Brian Fitzpatrick, Cotuit’s Ryan Ritter and Brooks Baldwin, and Wareham slugger Hogan Windish.

Historic night

Bourne’s Matt Shaw (Maryland) hit for the cyle on Sunday, becoming the first player to do so in at least a decade. Shaw went 4-for-5 in a win over Hyannis. He actually struck out in his first at-bat of the game, but started rolling soon after. He homered in the third inning, singled in the fifth and tripled in the seventh. With one more at-bat in the ninth, he doubled. 

The big night continued a terrific summer for Shaw, who finds himself sitting atop the league’s batting average leaderboard with a .368 mark. 

Top of the heap

Hyannis has overtaken Cotuit in the West standings, though the Kettleers are hanging close. After Wednesday’s slate, the Harbor Hawks have a one-point edge in the top spot. They also own the best record in the league. 

Speedy pickup

Cotuit has lost some key guys along the way this season, but on Wednesday, the Kettleers made a big addition. Vanderbilt speedster Enrique Bradfield, Jr., made his long-awaited Cape League debut and went 1-for-3 with an RBI. 

Bradfield, Jr., stole 46 bases for Vanderbilt this spring. 

The 2019 and 2021 Cape Cod Baseball League standings were worlds apart. It was just another great summer in 2019. The 2021 campaign came after the 2020 cancellation and represented some first steps back. 

The one common thread, oddly enough, was that the Hyannis Harbor Hawks struggled. They went 9-32-3 in 2019 and then 8-28 last year. 

Those days are over. 

The Harbor Hawks have emerged as a contender in the summer of 2022 and have lately been gaining ground on first-place Cotuit, who has fallen back to the pack in the West Division standings. 

Hyannis has been getting it done offensively, ranking second in the league in team batting average behind Cotuit. They’ve also scored the second-most runs in the league despite doing it in a different manner than the other leaders. The Harbor Hawks have hit only six home runs this summer – league leader Cotuit has 20 – but they’re finding ways to score. 

Balance and consistency have been the biggest key. While a number of teams have already lost key players, the only position players Hyannis released were guys who played in a handful of games. Seven Harbor Hawk players are hitting above .250. RBI totals are a prime example of the team’s depth – only one player is in double digits, but eight guys have driven in at least five runs. 

Mitch Jebb of Michigan State has led the parade. He’s batting .324 and getting on base at a .407 clip. Tito Flores of Michigan leads the team with a pair of homers. A native of Japan, Rikuu Nishida has been one of the more exciting players in the league. The Oregon commit is hitting .262 with 13 stolen bases. 

Brody McCullough of Wingate has led the pitching rotation. He has 1.68 ERA and has tallied a team-high 30 strikeouts, which is also tied for the best mark in the league. Four relievers have ERAs at 1.00 or below – Jordy Allard, Zachary Voelker, Jackson Emus and Ethan Hammerberg. 

With a win over Orleans on Sunday, the Harbor Hawks moved to 13-8-5. They’re just one point back of Cotuit in the standings. Their next game? A matchup with the Kettleers on Tuesday. 

Baldwin tops leaderboard

Chandler Simpson departed Cotuit as the Cape League’s leader in batting average. The torch has now been passed to Kettleer teammate Brooks Baldwin. The UNC Wilmington standout is batting .361, good for the league lead. He’s been red-hot basically all summer, notching hits in his first six games. He’s had zero hits in just two games all year. He’s currently on a 10-game hit streak. It’s nothing new for Baldwin, who batted .347 for UNC Wilmington in the spring en route to CAA Player of the Year honors. 

Shaw raking again

Matt Shaw hit 22 home runs for Maryland in the spring, and he’s been producing at a high level for Bourne this summer. He’s batting .349 with four homers and owns a 1.017 OPS. Among qualified hitters, he’s the only player in the league with an OPS over 1.000. 

Nothing free

Is something in the water at Wake Forest? Josh Hartle of Wake Forest made his fourth start of the summer for Falmouth on Sunday. He’s been solid with a 2.64 ERA, but the most impressive statistic is in the walks column. Hartle hasn’t issued a single free pass across 17 innings. Teammate Camden Minacci, who also attends Wake Forest, hasn’t handed out a walk either, while pitching out of the Falmouth bullpen. 

Dominant

Bryce Warrecker (Cal Poly) made headlines with his role in a combined no-hitter for Orleans. He followed it up with 4.2 scoreless innings in his next turn. The towering, 6-foor-8 righty owns a 0.52 ERA, with no earned runs allowed since his first appearance of the summer.  

East showdown

On the same night that Cotuit and Hyannis meet, the top two teams in the East are also squaring off. Brewster visits Y-D on Tuesday. 

It’s been a good stretch for the Y-D Red Sox.

On Saturday, manager Scott Pickler became the all-time winningest manager in Cape Cod Baseball League history. And his Red Sox have quickly added to his total, winning four of five since the record-breaking win. They’ve taken over first place in the East with a 10-5-2 record and they’re 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.

The record breaker for Pickler was a 5-3 victory over Cotuit – who remains the league’s best team so far. Mike Puzzanghera had a great piece on the Y-D website about the achievement and Pickler’s legacy. He’s part of a generation of Cape coaches who will all have a spot in the league’s record books – old-school baseball guys who have made the Cape their summer home for decades. Many things make the Cape League great, but the manager corps adds a layer of credibility to the baseball proceedings. These guys know what they’re doing. 

Pickler has been the best at navigating the changing landscape of the league and college baseball over the last 20 years. There’s more roster shuffling, fewer innings from pitchers, more tugs to get back home. But Pickler continues to get his teams to buy into the winning tradition of the Y-D Red Sox. They won three championships in a row from 2014 to 2016, after previously winning three out of four from 2004 to 2007. 

This year’s team looks like the kind of club that could make another splash. While Cotuit leads the league in both batting average and ERA, Y-D is second in each category. We may have a powerhouse in the East and the West this summer. 

Lyons leading Sox starters

Among the brightest stars for Y-D so far has been Jared Lyons (George Mason). He was the Cape League pitcher of the week in week one and has been even better since. On June 26, he pitched six shutout innings with 12 strikeouts and just one hit allowed. 

Lyons has yet to allow a run – earned or unearned – through 15 innings on the mound. 

Simpson departing

I guess leaving the Cape will finally cool off Chandler Simpson’s bat. The nation’s leading hitter in the spring was released by Cotuit on Thursday. He departs as the Cape League’s top hitter with a .455 average. 

MVP pedigree

Travis Honeyman (Boston College) had a historic summer for the Ocean State Waves of the NECBL last summer, breaking a long-held batting average record en route to league MVP honors. 

He followed it up with a strong spring for the Eagles and is hitting his way through another big summer. Playing for Orleans, Honeyman is hitting .360 on the season, good for the second spot on the league batting average leaderboard. He’s also tied for second in the league with three home runs. 

No-no for the Firebirds

Three Orleans pitchers combined on a no-hitter in a 4-0 victory over Chatham on Wednesday night. Bryce Warrecker (Cal Poly) was making his first start of the summer after four relief appearances and went six perfect innings with seven strikeouts. Josh Allen (Duke) continued the gem with two hitless frames. A hit-batter broke up the perfect game. Chris Clark (Harvard finished it off in the ninth. 

Home run king

Alex Freeland (Central Florida) hit nine home runs in only 34 games this spring and is on a similar pace with Brewster this summer. Freeland leads the Cape League with five home runs. He’s also hitting .304. 

Weekend Watch

The annual holiday weekend rivalry series kick off Sunday. Brewster takes on Harwich, Wareham goes against Bourne, Hyannis takes on Cotuit, Y-D matches up with Hyannis and Chatham faces Orleans. 

For the second year in a row, we’ve got a Cape League team off to a red-hot start.

Last year, it was the Bourne Braves. They started 9-0-2 and didn’t lose their first game until July. 

This summer, it’s the Cotuit Kettleers. With a 5-3 win over Wareham on Tuesday, the Kettleers pushed their league-best record to 8-0.

This is not a smoke and mirrors situation. The Kettleers have scored 41 runs, the most in the league, while allowing just nine, by far the fewest. Everything is clicking. 

The runs allowed number really sticks out. Cotuit has won five games in shutout fashion. The team ERA is at 0.79. Eight pitchers have yet to allow an earned run; only four pitchers have given up an earned run. Harrison Cohen (George Washington) and Tyler Bosma (Kentucky) have led the way among starters, both posting 0.00 ERAs. Jackson Kelley has been nails as a long reliever, striking out 13 across seven shutout innings from the bullpen. 

In Wednesday’s game, Daniel Brooks was tagged for three runs in 2.1 innings, but the bullpen didn’t surrender another run. Ethan Chenault (UNC Wilmington) was credited with the win thanks to 3.2 innings of no-hit ball. T.J. Brock (Ohio State) earned his second save. 

At the plate, Ryan Ritter (Kentucky) has been the team’s most consistent producer, much as he was last summer. Ritter had a 12-game hitting streak in the second half of the season last year and has picked up where he left off. He’s batting .357 with two homers and six RBI. Brooks Baldwin (UNC Wilmington), CJ Kayfus (Miami) and Carter Trice (NC State) have also been hot. Baldwin has stolen a league-high seven bases. And though he’s only played in three games thus far, Chandler Simpson (Georgia Tech) is doing exactly what he did in the spring, when he led the nation in hitting. Simpson is 7-for-11 thus far. 

The next team that has a shot at the Kettleers is Falmouth on Wednesday. 

CCBL honors

The first weekly awards were handed out by the league this week. Jared Lyons (George Mason) of Y-D was named the Pitcher of the Week and Travis Honeyman (Boston College) of Orleans is the Hitter of the Week. 

Lyons didn’t have a great spring at George Mason, finishing with an ERA over five, but he’s been terrific in two outings for the Red Sox. He has yet to allow a run, while striking out 10. 

Honeyman is no stranger to summer success. He broke a longstanding league record in the New England Collegiate Baseball League last year with the Ocean State Waves en route to league MVP honors. He’s batting .385 with the Firebirds and showing pop, with three home runs, tied for the early league lead. 

Bloodlines

Remember Homer Bush? With a name like that, you probably do. He had a nice run in Major Legaue Baseball for a few years, and now his son, Homer Bush, Jr., is on the path. After a solid spring with Grand Canyon, Bush Jr. is playing for Y-D this summer and just logged a three-hit night on Tuesday. 

MVP Return

With Brock Wilken back in Harwich, I believe this is the first time a reigning Cape League MVP has returned to the league since 2002. That year, Matt Murton followed up his 2001 MVP with a return trip to Wareham. 

Wilken is back in a Mariner uniform after hitting .302 with six home runs in his MVP campaign last summer. In the spring, he hit .272 with 23 homers.

So far this summer, Wilken is at .235 and he hit his first homer on Sunday. 

Several summer collegiate leagues give college-bound players a shot between the end of high school and the beginning of their college careers. 

The Cape League doesn’t do that, but this summer, one player who’s of that age is on the Cape. 

And he’s a good one. 

At just 17 years old, Cam Collier is one of the youngest players in modern Cape Cod League history. The third baseman is a potential first-round pick this year, with the draft slated for July. 

The son of former Major Leaguer Lou Collier, Cam was a burgeoning star in high school and ticketed for the 2023 draft when he opted to take the same kind of route that got Bryce Harper to the big leagues early. Collier left high school early, got his GED and enrolled in the junior college ranks at Chipola. That move has also afforded him the opportunity to get a Cape League showcase. 

The move of the draft into July is creating some interesting dynamics on the Cape. Some draft-eligible guys who might feel they have nothing to prove won’t be here. And some CCBL rosters are going to take a serious hit, right in the middle of the season. 

But it makes sense for Collier, who gets a chance to show off against the best competition he’s faced. He went 1-for-4 in his season debut, took an 0-for-2 the next night and went 2-for-3 with a run scored on June 14. 

MLB Pipeline ranks Collier 12th nationally among draft prospects. 

Catch him while you can. 

Kettleers red-hot

Collier’s Cape League team has been the hottest in the league thus far. With a 7-0 victory over Bourne on Thursday night, the Cotuit Kettleers are a perfect 4-0. They’ve outscored the opposition 22-4 in those games and are the only unbeaten team left on the Cape. 

Three of the victories have been shutouts. Cotuit’s team ERA is 0.25 through 36 innings. Eleven different pitchers have 0.00 ERAs. Jackson Kelley of Mercer has been the most impressive. The side-arming righty struck out seven in four scoreless innings of a win over Falmouth. 

On Thursday, four pitchers combined on the shutout of Bourne. Carter Trice (NC State) homered to lead the offense, and Brooks Baldwin (UNC Wimington) added three hits. 

Included in the hot start was the 400th Cape League win for manager Mike Roberts.

Defending champs start strong

The 2021 Cape League champion Brewster Whitecaps are off to a 3-1 start. They dropped their season opener and have since won three in a row. 

There’s some carryover on the roster from last year’s title-winning team. Tuesday’s win over Y-D featured six strong innings from Teddy McGraw – the guy who closed out the 2021 title clincher – and a save from Dale Stanavich, who closed many a game for the champs. 

The Whitecaps beat Orleans 7-2 on Tuesday for their third straight win. Henry Leake (Boston College) was terrific on the mound, striking out eight in five scoreless innings. He’s the early league leader in strikeouts. 

New place, same start

Nick Goodwin (Kansas State) played for the CCBL runner-up Bourne Braves last summer. He hit .221 for the year after getting off to a strong start, which included a 4-for-5 night in the second game of the season. 

Goodwin is in Harwich now and is again off to a great start. The infielder has a hit in every game and is batting .467 on the year. He also has a home run and is tied for the league lead with five RBI. 

Like Brewster, Harwich is out to a 3-1 start. 

Happy opening day, everyone. Summer is back.

Right Field Fog is back, too – but things will be a little bit different starting this year.

The daily recaps became too much of a grind last year. Work is busy and so is Little Miss Right Field Fog, who’s 3 now. More than a few times last year, I dozed mid-sentence while writing up recaps at midnight. It’s time to step back a bit from those.

But I can’t imagine a summer without closely following Cape League baseball, so Right Field Fog isn’t going anywhere. Expect two notes columns per week, plus other news posts as needed. If you signed up for the Right Field Fog email newsletter, you will still get the notes columns twice per week. And the step away from recaps will allow me to be more active on social media. 

So that’s the plan. Thanks to everyone who has followed along over the years. The Cape League media landscape is so different now than when the site started – the teams and other outlets do an amazing job chronicling every summer. Hopefully, Right Field Fog will remain a part of your Cape League reading, even if you’re not hearing from me every morning.

Thanks again. And play ball. 

An estimated 5,217 people watched Wednesday’s game in the Cape Cod Baseball League championship series. It was the largest crowd in the history of Stony Brook Field, every spare inch of real estate occupied by a beach chair of a blanket. People sat on the ground under the bleachers, peering through the fence. Kids sat on the railing of the stairs to the school building. Every spot on the outfield fence was taken. 

It was a beautiful scene, fitting for this summer’s Cape League return after its canceled 2020 season. Fans turned out in droves all summer, soaking up everything they missed. If you bring it back, they will come. 

Also, you had a feeling this would be it. 

Four years ago, the Brewster Whitecaps played more games than any team in Cape Cod Baseball League history on their way to the championship. Three games in the East Division semis, three more in the East finals, three in the title series. 

Not this time. 

In a condensed playoff bracket, Brewster swept Harwich in the East Division finals, then did the same against Bourne in the championship series, finishing it off with a wild 10-6 victory on Wednesday. The four straight wins added up to another title for the Whitecaps. Those 5,217 fans had a lot to cheer about. 

Brewster was coming off a 2-0 victory in game two of the championship series but found out quickly that game two would require a different route. Never one to go quietly in its historic season, Bourne hit two home runs in the top of the first inning, its first five batters staking the team to a 5-0 lead before an out was recorded. 

The first steps on the long road back were delivered by starting pitcher Chris McElvain (Vanderbilt), who retired three batters in a row after the second home run. He continued to settle in remarkably well, following up the bad first inning with four scoreless frames. He got out of trouble in the second by getting three straight outs with runners on first and second. In the fourth, Bourne had first and third with two ours and McElvain struck out Dalton Rushing – one of the home run hitters from the first inning – to end the threat. Brewster couldn’t have turned the game around without him. 

The comeback began quickly as Brewster scored two runs in the home half of the first inning. Spencer Jones (Vanderbilt) led off with a single, and Zach Neto (Campbell) cranked a two-run homer to the trees beyond the left-field fence. Neto has been one of the poster boys for Brewster’s playoff run. He went home in mid-July with an injury. When it healed, he made the almost unheard-of decision to come back. The move says a lot about Neto and his team. If guys are flying back from Florida just for the playoffs, your team has a real good vibe. 

Brewster continued to chip away. Jake Thompson (Oklahoma State) had an RBI double in the third inning and Chad Castillo (California Baptist) scored on a fielder’s choice in the fourth to make it 5-4. After a leadoff walk in the fifth, Castillo singled home the tying run and Kurtis Byrne (TCU) drove in the go-ahead run with a double. 

Bourne came back against the Brewster bullpen in the sixth. Colby Thomas (Mercer) led off with a triple and Peter Burns (Boston College) followed with a perfect squeeze bunt to plate the tying run. The  Braves threatened for more in the sixth and seventh innings but couldn’t break through against Brendan Girton (Texas Tech) and Brennen Oxford (Wake Forest). 

With one swing of the bat, Brewster got the lead back in the bottom of the seventh. Tony Bullard (Arizona) smashed the first pitch he saw for a home run and the 7-6 lead. The Whitecaps didn’t stop there. Castillo doubled and later came around on a wild pitch. Jones poked a double over third base to score two more runs, making it 10-6. 

Oxford got through the eighth, allowing a double to Tanner Schobel (Virginia Tech) but nothing else against the dangerous top of Bourne’s lineup. 

Closer Dale Stanavich (Rutgers) had pitched the night before, so Brewster turned to Teddy McGraw (Wake Forest), who had started and pitched well in the Harwich series. Clearly pitching with some adrenaline, McGraw got two quick outs. With the crowd on its feet, McGraw finished off the game and the championship with a strikeout. 

Champs.

Congrats @WhitecapsCCBL pic.twitter.com/3QpymKmlWk

— Right Field Fog (@rightfieldfog) August 11, 2021

The Whitecaps raced onto the field for a dog pile. They donned championship shirts and hats. Castillo was presented with the Playoff MVP award after hitting .400 in the playoffs. 

While the trophy was presented, the Braves gathered in right field for one last team huddle. It was an amazing summer in Bourne. The team’s historic start will always have a place in Cape League annals. They lost only nine games in the regular season and delivered a memorable performance to beat Cotuit in the West Division finals. 

As the season went on, it became clear that Bourne wasn’t alone in being head and shoulders above the rest. The Cape League’s return was blessed with two great teams. Brewster went 22-11-3 in the regular season. 

And when the playoffs came, the Whitecaps just kept winning. 

Nobody wanted to miss it.