Baseball: HCHS holds off Trojans

 ATLANTIC (June 4) -- A 6-0 lead nearly slipped away in the late innings Tuesday night, but the Harlan Community baseball team was able to hold on and escape Atlantic with a 7-5 Hawkeye Ten win.
 Trailing 6-0, the Trojans mounted a five-run rally in the bottom of the sixth off Cyclone reliever Joey Moser, then loaded the bases in the seventh against Riley Kohles before the game ended on a nice running catch by center fielder Jon Owens.
 The fifth-ranked (Class 3A) Cyclones improved to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in conference play. Atlantic, coached by former HCHS player Joe Brummer, dropped to 1-4 and 0-4, respectively.
 Cyclone junior Connor Bruck (3-0) cruised through the first five innings on the mound, allowing just one hit, one walk and a hit batter while striking out six.
 Atlantic’s five-run uprising against Moser included three singles, two Harlan errors, a hit batsman and a walk. Grant Sturm and Brody O’Brien each had an RBI single but only two of the five runs were earned.
 HCHS was led at the plate by Luke Schaben’s 3-for-3 night, including a fifth-inning RBI double that made it 3-0 and a sacrifice fly to cap the team’s three-run sixth. Derec Weyer went 2-for-3 with a double and Brett Sears hit a pair of singles and drove in a run.