BREWSTER — Brewster center fielder Adam Magpoc laced a single to deep left-center field with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 9th to give the Brewster Whitecaps a wild walk-off win Sunday afternoon in Brewster.
A win would have clinched the East Division title of the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Orleans Firebirds, but they still ended up as the champions, earning the top seed and home field advantage through the playoffs when Harwich lost to Chatham late Sunday evening.
Magpoc’s hit, off Orleans closer Steele Murdock (0-3), capped a furious rally that included 2 singles, 2 walks — one intentional — and 2 Orleans errors. It also ended Orleans’s bid to close out the season with 8 straight wins.
For fans of a certain age, the race for the division championship was reminiscent of the 1967 American League pennant chase where the Impossible Dream Red Sox were one of 4 teams in contention in the season’s last week. And, as in 1967, 3 teams entered the final weekend with a chance to claim the title. On Saturday night, after Harwich defeated Brewster and Orleans registered a thrilling come-from-behind 10-inning win over Hyannis, the Firebirds were ahead of Harwich by a half game. An Orleans win or tie against Brewster meant the Firebirds would win the division regardless of the result of Harwich’s game at Chatham. If the Firebirds lost, they could still win their first division title and first President’s Trophy — for best overall league record — since 2017, if Harwich lost to Chatham.
After a loss to Chatham on the Fourth of July, the Firebirds were 7-10 and in last place. Since then, they had gone 15-5-2 to capture the division lead.
Even the Boston Globe could not seem to fathom the Firebirds’ recent success. The last page of Sunday’s sports section showed a Saturday score: “Hyannis 6, at Orleans 5.” That had been the score with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, but that was before Ryan MacDougall’s single tied the game at 6. Dawson Bryce’s 2-out walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th gave the Firebirds their 5th consecutive one-run victory. The win preserved their half-game lead over the Harwich Mariners, who defeated Brewster to knock the Whitecaps out of the running for the top spot in the division.
In Sunday’s game, Brewster jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd, thanks to a home run and an unearned run, but the Firebirds got one back in the 3rd on back-to-back doubles by Landon Hairston and Tyler Myatt.
The Firebirds took a 3-2 lead in the 5th courtesy of designated hitter Myatt’s 4th home run in 10 games, which hugged the right field line before leaving the park. Ryan Kucherak, who had walked, scored ahead of Myatt.
Ryan Oshinskie, in his 2nd start of the year, put on a strong performance, pitching 6 solid innings and leaving with the score still 3-2.
Orleans scored an insurance run in the top of the 8th. Bryce led off with a single and advanced to second when Anthony Potestio worked a walk after being down 2 strikes in the count. Second-baseman Alejandro Garza moved them each up a base with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. With one out and the infield playing in for a play at the plate, Whitecaps hurler Andrelys Payamps uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Bryce to score easily.
Brewster got within one again in the bottom of the 8th on 2 singles and a passed ball but still entered the 9th trailing 4-3 with the Firebirds looking to secure their 6th straight one-run victory.
Mason Koch, who came on to get the last out in the 8th, started off the inning by inducing Cal Fisher to hit a grounder to third. Kucherak deftly fielded the ball but his throw pulled first-baseman Bryce off the bag and Fisher was safe. Manager Kelly Nicholson immediately went to his bullpen for Murdock, the league’s save leader with 8.
Second-baseman Carson Kerce greeted him with a single on his first pitch, putting runners on first and second and sending the Whitecaps’ fans into delirium. Carson Tinney followed with a line drive to short that Elijah Ickes made a nice play on, snagging it at his ankles for the out. Attempting to double up the runner, however, he made an errant throw for the Firebirds’ second error of the inning. That left runners on second and third and one out. The Firebirds intentionally walked pinch-hitter Brendan Lawson to load the bases and bring up a second pinch-hitter, Dalton Wentz, with the game on the line.
With the home crowd howling on every pitch, Wentz worked the count full before taking an inside delivery to force in the tying run. Magpoc stroked his game-winner on Murdock’s next pitch to ignite the same type of celebration that the Firebirds had enjoyed less than 24 hours earlier after Bryce’s heroics against Hyannis.
“We didn’t deserve to win that game,” Nicholson said, standing in front of the visitors’ dugout. “We threw two balls away and walked a guy. You don’t win when you do that.”
The Firebirds are still the regular season East Division champions and can claim the league’s best record at 22-16-2 despite the loss.
Now come the playoffs and a fresh start. The Firebirds opened their best-of-three first-round series on Tuesday at home against the Y-D Red Sox. The teams play at Y-D on Wednesday at 4 p.m. with a deciding game, if necessary, at Eldredge Park on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
