WINDSOR – It wasn’t the rematch Randy Whitaker hoped for.

Whitaker’s Bertie baseball Falcons struggled at the plate Thursday night as they dropped the season series to Northeastern after getting beaten 9-1.

&uot;We didn’t come out ready to play,&uot; Whitaker said after the contest. &uot;For some reason, we can’t play two good games back-to-back.

&uot;We’ve got a lot of younger guys on the team and we are still making what I call freshman mistakes,&uot; he said. &uot;Everyone has to have a positive attitude and until that happens, we’re going to struggle.&uot;

The Eagles took the lead early, plating four runs in the top of the first frame.

Gabe Brickhouse had an RBI-single, as did Josh Simpson while two other runs scored on errors.

From there, Northeastern added one run in the third and one in the sixth, both of which were scored in conjunction with Bertie errors.

The Eagles added three in the seventh stanza.

Bertie’s best inning offensively came in the home half of the fifth when O.J. Dobbin and Ethan Boller led off the frame with back-to-back singles. Brent Bowen sacrificed them to second and third.

Lance Thomas singled home Dobbin, but Boller was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Dobbin led Bertie offensively with a 2-for-3 day at the plate. Thomas, Jed Hughes and Boller were each 1-for-3.

Hunter Mizelle suffered the loss on the mound after tossing five innings. He gave up seven hits and five runs, four of which were earned. He struck out five and walked two.

Thomas threw the final two innings, giving up three hits and four runs.

The loss moved Bertie to 5-10 overall and 2-5 inside the conference.

They will meet South Lenoir in the first round of the Ray Avery Easter Tournament today (Saturday) at 2 p.m. The tournament is hosted by Ayden-Grifton.