Braves Spoil Whitecaps' Home Opener.

By Maxwell Paul McLaughlin
BREWSTER, M.A.- It was the first game back at the newly remodeled Stony Brook Field in over a year and the Whitecaps were seeking their first win on the young season. The Braves however had other plans.

The Bourne Braves defeated the Brewster Whitecaps 9-1.

Even with the lopsided score, the Whitecaps came out hot. Whitecaps starting pitcher Bryce Hubbart (Florida State) in his first cape league game came out of the gates roaring by striking out the side in the top of the first inning.

“I was pretty excited to pitch, I'm glad I got the first game jitters out of the way,” Hubbart said.

The score stayed 0-0 until the top of the third inning where the Braves hit a three-run home run to give themselves a three-run lead.

“I made one bad pitch and it resulted in a homer,” Hubbart said. 

Hubbart finished with six strikeouts in four innings pitched.

After Hubbart exited the game the Braves put six more runs on the board in the last six innings of the game.

It then suddenly turned into a bullpen day for the Whitecaps who saw four pitchers come to the mound in the last five innings of the game.

“It wasn't supposed to be a bullpen day,” Whitecaps pitching coach Scott Landers said. “It got to that point just where we just wanted to see what the guys could do when we put them out there."

The four pitchers who came into the game after Hubbart were Sam Bello (Maryland), Micheal Prosecky (Louisville), Dylan Simmons (Florida State), and Thomas Babalis (Binghamton). 

A problem for many of the relief pitchers as the game went on was falling behind in the counts according to coach Landers.

“I thought the pitchers competed well, but throwing first pitch strikes and getting ahead in the count became a problem as the game went on," Landers Said.
​
The Whitecaps however did not help out on the offensive end either. The team only had six hits and a whopping 12 strikeouts as a team.

The Whitecaps also had runners in scoring position multiple times and couldn't take advantage.

One bright spot on the offense was Colin Davis (Wofford). He had two hits, had two stolen bases,   scored the only run for the Whitecaps, and was on base a total of three times.

The Whitecaps scored their only run in the bottom of the ninth off of a Jake Thompson (Oklahoma State) infield single that brought in a runner from third base. 

The Whitecaps now (0-1-1) will look to pick up their first win at Hyannis tomorrow at 6 pm.