
Coming into Tuesday night’s finale in the NE8, the Bellmont Braves had no role to play in the title hunt outside of bus riders and spoilers.
They spent plenty of time on the bus and did plenty of spoiling, nearly mocking East Noble to a 7-6 victory.
Norwell entered the night with a spotless 6-0 record and East Noble lost the battle of the Knights two weeks ago in Wells County 8-1, but in today’s world of technology, word quickly spread that Norwell was losing against Columbia City, opening the door for East Noble to share the title if they could just get past the Braves.

Bellmont had other ideas.
In a moment that will go down as legend, Cam Friedt, a senior who had just two at-bats coming into the night, crushed a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the sixth inning on a full count to left field, dashing the hopes of East Noble and perhaps providing the spark that Bellmont was seeking for the sectional next week.
The Braves had just taken the lead when Jack Scheumann scored on a passed ball at 2-1 before Will Baker worked a walk to put two runners on. That’s when East Noble went with Jackson Leedy, their top reliever with an ERA under 2.00. Bellmont went with Friedt, who had just three plate appearances for the team.
The rest is history.
The Braves were in a position to win because of the outstanding start by Beau Baker, who pitched into the seventh and allowed six hits and one earned run while striking out five.
East Noble mounted a late rally against Baker in their last at-bats, and Jack Scheumann made it interesting in relief, but despite the fact that the lead was 7-2 when he entered the game, Scheumann ultimately did what he was asked to do and that was get the 21st out on a ground ball to the mound.
Will Baker had a single, two walks and two RBI as the shortstop, while Gavin Krull had two hits at the bottom of the lineup and scored twice.
The Braves face another long road trip to Carroll Wednesday night.