Braves break out bats in sixth to knock off New Haven
After falling behind early, the Bellmont Braves chipped away at the lead possessed by the New Haven Bulldogs. A big sixth inning gave the Braves control of a contest they ultimately won 10-6.
Things got off to an inauspicious start for Bellmont when Mason Knoch launched a tworun home run to left field with two outs.
Bellmont (4-10-1, 2-3 Northeast 8) got a run back in the bottom of the first thanks to a sacrifice fly by Keagan Martin. Andrew James, who led off the inning with a single, scored from third.
The Braves had an opportunity to erase the rest of the New Haven (4-14, 0-4 NE8) lead when walks to Jordan Haines and Delsyn Lee put two runners on base.
But they were left stranded when the inning ended.
The Bulldogs took advantage by widening their lead an inning later.
Brayden Kunberger scored on a passed ball to give New Haven a 4-1 lead.
After a pair of singles loaded the bases, Kian Wheeler drove in a run with a two-out single that he hit to the left side of the infield.
As they did in the first, the Braves countered by knocking a run off the margin in their half of the inning.
Jack Scheumann, who led off with a walk, scored on a Will Baker single that made its way into right field.
The Braves held the Bulldogs in the top of the fourth before shaving the lead down to a run in the bottom half of the frame.
Dylan Velez started the inning by drawing a walk. James getting hit by a pitch and Scheumann reaching on a fielder’s choice loaded the bases for Beau Baker.
Baker stepped up in the big moment by hitting a line drive to center to score Oliver Werling, running for Velez, from third and James from second.
The bottom of the fifth saw the Braves even the count.
Will Baker hit the ball down the right-field line and raced around for a lead-off triple.
He scored when Velez doubled to left field two batters later.
The momentum was squarely in the thirdbase dugout occupied by the Braves.
That all changed, however, with one swing of the bat in the top of the sixth inning.
With one out in the inning, Bryant Wake got a hold of an 0-1 offering and drove it out to left field for a solo home run, giving the Bulldogs a 6-5 lead.
After what could have been a damaging blow, Bellmont responded with plenty of poise.
They limited the damage by retiring the next two batters.
Still only down a run, Bellmont changed the game completely with a huge inning at the right time.
James set the tone for the inning by finding the gap in left-center field for a lead-off double.
He scored the tying run when a ground ball off the bat of Scheumann was mishandled.
Scheumann stole second before scoring on a single to right by Beau Baker.
Baker’s courtesy runner, Layne Lemaster, raced around from first when Martin drove the ball into the gap, making the score 8-6 in favor of the home team.
In search of further insurance, the Braves extended their lead to three when a ground ball by Baker resulted in an error. Martin scored on the miscue.
A walk and an error loaded the bases for Gavin Krull.
Another error was committed on a ground ball to third from Krull. Will Baker made it home from third base for the fifth Bellmont run of the inning.
Beau Baker, who pitched all seven innings for Bellmont, had a four-run lead to work with at the beginning of the seventh. That was plenty. Baker retired the side in order in the top of the seventh inning to close out the victory.
The Braves will remain home for a Saturday doubleheader against Fort Wayne Northrop. First pitch of the first game versus the Bruins is set for 10:00 a.m.