Head coach Eric Haglund and the Frewsburg Bears started their season with 19 straight wins before losing to Wilson in the Section VI Class C championship game.
Photo courtesy of Barb Flood
Frewsburg couldn’t lose this season.
The Bears went their first 19 games without a loss.
From a season-opening victory in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on April 2 until a Section VI Class C quarterfinal win over Chautauqua Lake on May 21, nobody could touch the Bears.
It wasn’t until they ran into a buzzsaw of a pitcher in Wilson’s Tyler Johnston — who has verbally committed to NCAA Division I Niagara University in just his junior season — that somebody could figure out Frewsburg’s offense.
All told, the Bears outscored opponents 199-31, including seven shutouts.
At the South Atlantic Bank Invitational in Myrtle Beach to open the season, Frewsburg beat Lake City, South Carolina, 11-1; duPont Manual, Maryland, 14-8; Shady Spring, West Virginia, 11-1; and Tyler (W.Va.) Consolidated, 12-1. Rain washed out a potential championship game in South Carolina.
The Bears returned home and ran through their Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 schedule with a perfect 14-0 record.
The first time through the slate, they beat Brocton 6-0, Clymer/Sherman/Panama 13-3, Cassadaga Valley 6-2, Pine Valley 27-0, Maple Grove 10-3, Westfield 3-1 and Chautauqua Lake 17-0.
In its second run through the schedule, Frewsburg beat the Bulldogs 11-0, the Wolfpack 4-0, the Cougars 12-0, the Panthers 7-1, the Red Dragons 9-5, the Wolverines 18-1 and the Eagles 7-1.
The Bears’ regular-season performance earned them the No. 1 seed and a prequarterfinal bye in the Section VI Class C playoffs. In the quarterfinals, they took on Chautauqua Lake and won 10-0 to set up a home semifinal against No. 5 Wilson.
The Lakemen brought their right-handed ace, Johnston, to the Frewsburg Sports Complex and walked out with a 3-2 win.
Three days later, Wilson won the Class C sectional crown at Diethrick Park with a 3-1 victory over Gowanda.
While the Bears hoped to win a sectional title, the semifinal loss did not ruin what was a hugely successful season in Eric Haglund’s third year as head coach.
Five Frewsburg players — seniors Garrett Brink and Harrison Eckert, and juniors Chase Haglund, Mason Eckman and Aidan Gruber — were named CCAA Division 2 First-Team All-Stars. Senior Vincent Sanfilippo, juniors Maddox Sheesley and Daniel Peterson, and sophomore Trent Lewis were named Second-Team All-Stars. Junior Cole Mazzurco received honorable-mention status.
Chase Haglund was also named to the Small School All-Western New York team.
As a team, the Bears hit .340 with a .487 on-base percentage and a .932 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. Frewsburg pounded out 172 hits, including 26 doubles, nine triples and three home runs.
On the mound, Brink, Haglund, Gruber, Sheesley and Sanfilippo combined for a 0.98 earned run average with just a 0.917 WHIP, which measures the number of baserunners per inning allowed. Frewsburg pitchers had 202 strikeouts and just 34 walks in 121 innings.
Defensively, the Bears committed just 22 errors for a .953 fielding percentage.
Coach Haglund, with his even-keeled persona, was the man who made the engine run and is the 2024 OBSERVER/Post-Journal Coach of the Year.