Cyclones win baseball opener

 CARROLL (May 20) -- Brett Sears and two relievers combined on a one-hitter and Harlan Community broke open a close game with five runs in the fifth inning to defeat Carroll 10-1 in the baseball season opener for both teams here Monday night.
 Sears, now 29-3 during his five-year varsity career, allowed one hit and one unearned run in four innings of work, walking one and striking out nine. He struck out the side in the second and third innings while Connor Bruck fanned all six batters he faced in the fifth and sixth. Tyler Schaben finished on the mound with a scoreless seventh.
 Offensively, HCHS took advantage of 12 walks and one hit batsman and made the Tigers pay dearly for their two errors, scoring seven unearned runs. The Cyclones, ranked sixth in Class 3A by the Iowa Baseball Coaches Association to start the season, totaled eight hits but also stranded 13 runners.
 Bruck, Sears and Riley Kohles had two hits each, Bruck also walked twice and Jon Owens drew four walks while adding a sacrifice fly.