Brewster delivered the best pitching performance the Cape League championship has seen since, well, the last time Brewster was there.
Three pitchers combined on the first shutout in the finals since the 2017 title clincher as the Whitecaps beat Bourne 2-0 on Tuesday night at Doran Park for a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
Griffin Green (Virginia Tech), Michael Prosecky (Louisville) and Dale Stanavich (Rutgers) did the honors for Brewster. Bourne’s pitching was fantastic as well, but two runs in the third inning were enough. It added up to the same final score as the 2017 championship game three between the teams, when Brewster won 2-0 for the title.
Bourne and Brewster had the top two team ERAs in the league during the regular season, but more of the same on stats like that is never a given in the Cape League playoffs. After all, Brewster’s best pitcher reached his innings limit a few weeks ago.
In that vein, Green had been really good all season but had made only one other start. He saved his best for the playoffs, striking out seven and allowing just three hits in five scoreless innings. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning. It was his longest outing of the year and his season-high in strikeouts.
Prosecky has been a really valuable weapon in the Brewster bullpen all year, the kind of versatile reliever you need in the era of innings limits and short starts. He delivered his fourth consecutive scoreless outing and his second dominant playoff performance with 3.1 scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and struck out five.
Prosecky was in line to finish it off before handing out two walks in the bottom of the ninth. Brewster still had closer Dale Stanavich (Rutgers) in its back pocket and went to him. The lefty struck out both batters he faced to finish off the win.
Brewster pitchers racked up 14 strikeouts and didn’t allow an extra-base hit. They were great with runners on base, too, consistently escaping trouble. Bourne left nine men on base.
Chris Lanzilli (Wake Forest) and Kurtis Byrne (TCU) provided all the offense Brewster needed in the second inning. Lanzilli doubled and moved to third on a groundout. After a walk to Will Simpson (Washington) and a stolen base, Byrne doubled both of them home for the 2-0 lead.
Bourne’s Jake Bennett (Oklahoma) allowed just those two runs in five strong innings. Kenneth Turner (Hartford) pitched three scoreless innings of relief and Tyler Stuart (Southern Miss) tossed a perfect ninth.
The game was delayed by an hour as the infield dirt required significant work after Monday’s rainout. From what I heard, it was touch-and-go for a while. Kudos to the teams and organizations for getting the job done.
Game two is set for Wednesday at 4 p.m., at Stony Brook Field. Brewster hasn’t lost yet in the playoffs, having swept Harwich in the East finals. But we know what Bourne did after its loss in game one of the West finals.
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