WINDSOR – Aaron Hoggard drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning here Wednesday.

Hoggard’s two-out hit with the bases loaded capped a three-run rally as Bertie beat Plymouth 10-9.

“This was a good comeback victory for us,” Falcon coach Randy Whitaker said. “We played hard and didn’t give up.

“I was really pleased with our patience at the plate in the seventh inning,” he continued. “We believed we could come back and win. Aaron got the big game-winning hit for us.”

Bertie opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the second stanza.

Scott Hoggard doubled to center and went to third when Bo Ledford reached on a dropped third strike. Simon Hoggard, a courtesy runner, stole second before Scott Hoggard scored on a wild pitch that sent Simon Hoggard to second.

Freshman Zeek Williams walked and stole second before O.J. Dobbin loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch.

Simon Hoggard scored on a bases-loaded walk issued to Brent Bowen and Williams came home on a Hunter Mizelle sacrifice to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead.

Plymouth responded with three in the top of the fourth to even the scored, but Bertie came back to add two in the bottom of the same frame.

Williams singled to right and stole second before Dobbin walked. A double steal moved the runners to second and third. Both scored on a two-run single to right by Mizelle which gave Bertie a 5-3 lead.

The Vikings again pulled even with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth, but the Falcons answered with a single mark in the bottom of the same inning.

P.J. Schwab walked and went to third on a Scott Hoggard infield single. Ethan Boller walked to load the bases. Schwab then scored on a Williams RBI-double to right to make it 6-5.

Plymouth finally took the lead in the sixth stanza when they scored three runs to go up 8-6.

The Falcons scored one in the bottom of the sixth stanza.

Bowen singled to center and went to second on a Mizelle groundout. Bowen went to third on an Aaron Hoggard single and then scored on a Simon Hoggard RBI-groundout.

Plymouth led 8-7 after six innings and added a single run in the top of the seventh.

Scott Hoggard started the Falcon seventh when he reached on an error. Ledford walked before Bryce Cullipher singled to left to load the bases.

Scott Hoggard scored when Williams was hit by a pitch and Ledford scored on a Bowen RBI-squeeze bunt to tie the game at 9-all.

With two out, Cullipher came home on Aaron Hoggard’s game-winning line drive RBI-single to center.

Bertie used four pitchers including Aaron Hoggard, Mizelle, Williams and Bowen, who pitched the final two innings for the win.

The Falcons had 12 hits led by Scott Hoggard with three. Bowen, Williams and Aaron Hoggard had two each.

The Falcons were 1-1 after the contest, heading into Thursday’s game with SouthWest Edgecombe.