Cyclones escape Sergeant Bluff with 8-7 victory

 SERGEANT BLUFF (June 22) -- It wouldn’t be an official trip to Sergeant Bluff for the Harlan Community baseball team without some seventh-inning peculiarity.
 Two years ago, HCHS finished a 4-3 loss to Sergeant Buff-Luton playing under protest when the tying run was sent back to third base despite an overturned ‘out’ call at first that kept the Cyclone seventh inning alive. During the discussion, a bank of lights near home plate went out but the game continued and ended one pitch later.
 On Friday night, the 3rd-ranked (3A) Cyclones nearly let an 8-1 lead evaporate in the bottom of the seventh, which included two fly ball hits lost above the lights, but managed to escape with the help of a base runner’s interference call and a game-ending rundown between third and home.
 Buoyed by a seven-run second inning, HCHS (15-2) prevailed 8-7 for its 13th straight win while the 5th-ranked Warriors (15-8-1) lost their fourth straight game - all decided by one run.
 Cyclone junior Brett Sears pitched four dominant innings and junior Riley Kohles allowed just one unearned run in two innings, allowing HCHS to take an 8-1 lead to the bottom of the seventh.
 Senior reliever Jacob Bartley was the victim of some bad luck during the Warriors’ six-run rally, which started with a walk and a fly ball to center that disappeared above the field’s low-positioned lights and fell for a hit.
 With the score 8-3, Ryan Doran relieved Bartley on the mound and things quickly got strange. With Colby Klingensmith at the plate, a pitch above or behind his head hit the bat and rolled about 30 feet along the first base line. Doran and catcher Jared Moser both went after the ball but no throw was made to first and a run appeared to score. However, Klingensmith was called out for runner’s interference on the play and all three runners were sent back to their original bases.
 Now pitching with two outs, Doran walked in a run to make it 8-4 and fly ball off the bat of Sean Owens - again lost in the sky - fell for a two-run single. A wild pitch let another run score and just like that the tying run was at second base.
 Daniel Wright, the 10th batter of the inning, then hit a chopper toward left that third baseman Joey Moser somehow deflected with his bare hand toward shortstop Connor Bruck. Pinch runner Bryce Click, who thought the ball was in left field, took a wide turn around third and was caught in a pickle, eventually tagged out - Bruck to Jared Moser to Joey Moser - for the elusive 21st out.
 Offensively, the Cyclones finished with 14 hits against four Warrior pitchers, doing most of the damage vs. junior Brady Petit (1-2), who was making just his second start of the year. Bruck went 3-for-4 at the plate while Jared Moser, Ryan Doran (two doubles), Sears and Luke Schaben (one double) all went 2-for-4.