The senior center fielder doubled and scored in the bottom of the third inning and followed that up with a home run in the fourth inning to lead a 15-hit Bears’ attack en route to an 11-5 non-league win over Falconer.

Senior Caleb Caldwell navigated through four innings, allowing four hits and striking out three while walking three to earn the win. Junior Reid Bjork earned the save with three innings of three-hit relief, allowing two runs while striking out four.

“I love what Reid does, he doesn’t mess around,” Frewsburg coach Jay Grann said. “He just gets the ball and fires it. He has a good offspeed pitch and keeps guys off-balance.”

The Golden Falcons (1-1, 0-1 CCAA Division 1 West) actually held a 1-0 lead through their half of the third inning, but Frewsburg sent eight hitters to the plate in a four-run third inning. With one out, O’Brien doubled to left field and Bjork followed with a single to shallow center field. After a double steal, Caldwell came through with a two-run double to left field. After a fly out, junior Tim Wright and sophomore Nick Marsh hit consecutive RBI doubles to plate the final two runs of the inning.

Frewsburg’s Caleb Caldwell delivers to the plate during non-league baseball against Falconer on Tuesday at Frewsburg High School. P-J photos by Mark L. Anderson

“I just think it was the second time through the lineup,” Grann said.

“I don’t think it mattered if they switched pitchers or not,” Grann added. “We saw the ball better and made solid contact.”

Falconer junior Tylar Olson and senior teammate Jarod Anderson opened the top of the fourth inning with back-to-back singles and eventually came home on wild pitches to pull the Golden Falcons within a run.

“Some of that is on him and some of that is on our catching, Grann said. “We just have to get used to that and make some adjustments.”

O’Brien made even more noise on the bottom half of the frame. With the Falconer outfield playing deeper after the Bears’ four-double third inning, O’Brien still managed to clear the center fielder on the first pitch he saw with two outs. He rounded third and ran through Grann’s stop sign, diving head first into home as the throw from the cutoff man was late.

Falconer’s Dexter Ormond delivers to the plate. P-J photos by Mark L. Anderson

“Cordell does a lot for us up there,” Grann said. “He gives us some pop at the top of the lineup and his speed, obviously, is tough to contain.”

Armed with a 5-3 lead, Frewsburg turned to Bjork, who allowed a leadoff single to Falconer’s Bryan Gardner. The senior shortstop then stole second, went to third on a groundout and came in to score on a passed ball, but Bjork escaped the inning with no further damage by picking up a strikeout and inducing a comebacker with two runners on to end the threat.

“We are getting the guys on, we just didn’t get them across. We didn’t get that hit to advance them and get them in,” Falconer coach Chris Schrader said. “Those are things we have to work on that we talk about, making sure they just make contact and put it in play so we can tag on a little bit more than one an inning.”

The hosts added on three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning as junior Mark Mammoser and Wright opened the frame with singles. A fly out to right field by Marsh allowed both runners to move up before junior Trent Gray lined a two-run triple to right-center field. Freshman Aaron Hair followed with his first career hit to drive in Gray with the Bears’ eighth run before sophomore Nolan Brink singled and later scored on an error.

“Those young guys, success breeds success,” Grann said. “They had a little bit today and hopefully that continues moving forward.”

Wright and Gray added RBI singles in the bottom of the sixth inning before Gardner led off the top of the seventh with a triple and came home on senior Duel Card’s grounder.

Falconer, which played Monday and has three more games scheduled this week, went through five pitchers due in part to new pitch-count rules enacted this spring by New York state.

“We had three guys today who were going to pitch, but we had to go down the ladder a little bit more. The guys that threw, they threw strikes and they hit us, which is expected,” Schrader said. “It’s going to be tough with the new count, making sure that we keep guys under certain numbers, making sure they are ready for games later in the week.

“They are a good hitting team,” Schrader added. “They are going to hit any pitcher.”

The Bears (1-0, 0-0) will open their CCAA Division 2 East schedule today when they host Pine Valley.

“I think it was important to get out here and play an actual game,” Grann said. “An actual game brings out those competitive juices.”

NOTES: The top five hitters in the Frewsburg lineup — O’Brien, Bjork, Caldwell, Mammoser and Wright — each had a pair of hits, as did Gray. … Caldwell (1-0) threw 41 of his 72 pitches for strikes while Bjork threw 40 of 58 for strikes. … Senior Dexter Ormond took the loss, allowing four runs on five hits and a walk while striking out one. … Gardner had a pair of hits while sophomore Nate Abbey led off the game with a double for Falconer.