Apr 8, 2016 By Kevin Harrison for The 3 min read

CONNELLSVILLE — The Connellsville Falcons and the Armstrong River Hawks played through blustery 40 degree temperatures Friday afternoon as the Falcons picked up their first win in Section 2-AAAA beating the River Hawks, 7-4.

The Falcons (1-2, 5-3) took advantage of four Armstrong errors, two of those leading to a big five-run third inning.

“We had the one big inning in the third. We were able to get things rolling and kept things going which made a big difference,” Connellsville’s Rob Orndorff said. “We were finally able to put some offensive hits together which builds some confidence.”

J.P. Pryzbylinski and Jimmy Malone had a good day at the plate for the Falcons getting two hits apiece. Pryzbylinski also drove in two runs for the Falcons.

Connellsville picked up the game’s first run in the second. Corey Fogle was safe on an error at second. He moved to second on Pryzbylinski’s grounder to first. Malone singled and Fogle was held up at third. He scored on Riley Anderson’s sacrifice fly to right.

The Falcons added five more runs in the third. With one out Derek Orndorff was safe on an error. Austin Puskar followed with a single. Fogle flied out to left. Pryzbylinski doubled to bring the runners home. Malone singled to put two on. Anderson’s fly ball to center was dropped allowing both runners to score with Anderson ending up at second. He came around to score on Seth Bruner’s double giving the Falcons a 6-0 lead.

Armstrong fought back with four runs in the top of the fourth. Jared McCombe and Nash Watson drew back-to-back walks with one out. Tyler Fries singled to drive in McCombs. Watson stole third with Fries moving into second. Both runners scored on Zach Dudek’s base hit. Dawson Porter got on board due to an error at short. Mike Lhote followed with a ground ball to short. Porter got caught in a rundown but stayed alive long enough to allow Dudek to score.

“That third inning hurt us. It seemed we forgot how to field the ball,” Armstrong’s Ed Morris said. “Once we got out of that inning I felt we played pretty decent the rest of the way. We’ve got that to build on.”

The Falcons came back with one more run in the bottom of the fourth. Orndorff was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Fogle’s single.

“I was pleased at the way our pitchers performed today. They overcame some control problems and competed well today,” Orndorff said. “It’s good to get a section win. Hopefully it will give us some momentum going into next week.”