Schabens’ impact continues as HCHS sweeps Cardinals

 HARLAN (June 7) -- Luke and Tyler Schaben didn’t enter the baseball season atop Harlan Community’s list of well-known returning letter winners from last year’s Class 3A state runner-up.
 But both juniors continued to make their impact felt on a 9-2 start Thursday night as the fifth-ranked Cyclones swept Clarinda in a varsity doubleheader, 7-3 and 9-4, at Jim Goeser Field.
 Luke Schaben, a versatile utility player, saw the field in all three state tournament games last July but only had 25 at-bats as a sophomore and hit .120. Through 11 games this season, he leads HCHS with a .536 batting average and ranks second with eight runs-batted-in, splitting time between the outfield, infield and the pitcher’s mound.
 Luke went 3-for-4 in game one vs. the Cardinals and added his third double of the year in game two.
 Tyler Schaben, a side-armed to submarine-style relief pitcher, made his varsity debut in the Cyclones’ season opener and has rapidly become a late-innings fixture for head coach Steve Daeges, pitching in seven of 11 games and allowing just one run in 11 innings.
 Tyler recorded the final two outs in Thursday’s first game, then pitched four scoreless innings of relief in the night cap to earn his first win, using just 47 total pitches in the two outings.
 HCHS totaled 10 hits in each game, improving to 9-2 overall and 8-0 in Hawkeye Ten Conference play. The Cardinals fell to 3-6 and 2-6, respectively.