Trojans’ starter Aidan Kennedy didn’t allow an earned run, but the Bears (11-6) were able to push across some runs once he left the game to improve to 11-6 on the season.

For the Trojans (12-7) and head coach Jared Brown, the plan was always to spread out pitching duties as Southwestern prepares to enter the postseason.

“I didn’t really have any plans to throw Mitchell (Pascarella) today,” said Brown.

Added Brown: ”I wanted Kennedy to get to a certain amount of pitches and he hit about 50 pitches in the third inning so that was about it. I didn’t want to throw him any longer. They were just hitting the ball, but there are a lot of positives to take away. We were hitting the ball well, I thought. They made some really good plays in the field. Frewsburg always comes and plays.”

Southwestern’s Aidan Kennedy makes contact during Monday’s nonleague baseball game against Frewsburg. P-J photo by Scott Reagle

The Bears started off the third inning with walks by Nick Marsh and Nolan Brink, which brought Jason Dustin to the plate. The junior took advantage of runners in scoring position, ripping a hard-hit ground ball between first and second.

Another walk by reliever Nate Johnson brought Luke Tota to the mound, but the Bears continued their offensive salvo as Caleb Carr ripped a single into short left field while Kaleb Bender was able to scamper home on a wild pitch to make it 5-1 for the hosts.

A two-RBI double off the bat of Aaron Hair, a single by Marsh and an RBI single to left field from Brink finished off the offense in that inning with Frewsburg carrying an 8-1 lead into the fifth.

After Hair got the start for the Bears, striking out seven and walking two, Brink took over in the fifth and finished things off, giving up four hits and two runs the rest of the way.

“That was our main goal this week was to just keep playing,” said Frewsburg coach Jay Grann, who will lead his team against Jamestown today at Russell Diethrick Park. “We’re starting to get into a rhythm as a team and didn’t want to give that up. We played well today, hit the ball well. Their pitcher, Kennedy, kept us off balance for the first three, then they made a switch and we kind of got into a rhythm. Most of the balls we hit we barelled it up and they had to make some plays. A lot of them fell in for us and we moved runners around.”

Southwestern threatened to get on the board in the first inning as Aden Froah led off with a single before Pascarella was hit by a pitch. Hair got out of that jam without incident, forcing a pair of fly-ball outs.

The Bears picked up their first run of the day in the bottom of the second when Dustin made his way home from second base following two passed balls.

The Trojans responded in the top of the third with singles by Pascarella and Kennedy as well as an RBI grounder up the middle from Johnson. Southwestern scored another run in the top of the fifth on an RBI single from Johnson, who would finish his day going 3 for 4 with all three RBIs. A fielder’s choice in the fifth and a wild pitch in the sixth gave the Bears their final runs of the day.

“I had a feeling that they were going to throw Hair and I was happy that they threw him just to see that level of pitching going into our playoff run,” said Brown. “I was really keeping an eye on who we were throwing and how many pitches they were going to thrown.”

While the Bears will end their regular season against Jamestown today, both teams will await news of their first-round playoff opponents.

Jack Yost had a double for the Bears, who had 10 hits. The Trojans had nine.