WINDSOR – Alex Harmon wasn’t scheduled to start Wednesday.

The freshman, however, was called into duty in his first varsity start for Bertie High School thanks to an injury and responded well. He struck out nine and scattered four hits as the Falcons topped Plymouth High School 3-2.

“I told him Wednesday at lunch he was going to start, but he’s the type of kid who doesn’t let anything bother him,” Bertie baseball boss Randy Whitaker said. “He did a fantastic job.”

The Falcons won despite trailing 2-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning.

In that frame, Javier Pagola started the inning with a single and was sacrificed to second by Matthew Evans. He went to third on a Hunter White single. White stole second before Harmon drew a walk to load the bases.

Tommy Cowan then delivered a two-run single to tie the game at 2-all.

The Falcons took the lead for good in the next frame.

In that inning, Chris Johnson drew a walk and moved to second on a David Watford sacrifice. Pagola then grounded out and moved Johnson to third. Evans singled, but Johnson had to hold at third. White then delivered an RBI-single that proved to be the game winner.

Offensively, the Falcons were paced by Evans and White. The latter was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored during the afternoon while the former was 1-for-2.

Pagola was 1-for-3 during the afternoon with a run scored while Cowan was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.

“It feels really good,” Whitaker said. “It’s been a while since we’ve opened with a win at home. I’m proud of the guys, they played hard.”

The coach said the team didn’t play well during Monday’s 10-0 loss to South Creek, but came back to work hard in practice Tuesday.

“It paid off for us Wednesday,” he said. “The guys came out and worked hard and did a good job.”

In addition to Harmon’s performance, Whitaker said he was proud of the work of Adam Cowand in his first start of the season at catcher. He also expressed his appreciation for the work of assistant coaches Lance Thomas and Kyle Hughes in working with the pitchers and catchers.

The Falcons improved to 1-1 for the season with the victory.