Schmitz, Doran both go deep as Cyclones edge SB-L

 HARLAN -- No longer undefeated, the Harlan Community baseball team hasn’t lost any steam as it barrels toward the final three weeks of the regular season.
 In a matchup of top-five teams Friday night (June 23), HCHS senior Kyle Schmitz pitched his first complete game and junior Ryan Doran homered and had the team’s only three RBI as the top-ranked (3-A) Cyclones held off No. 4 Sergeant Bluff-Luton 4-3 at Jim Goeser Field.
 Since suffering its first loss of the year in game one of a doubleheader at Sioux City East on Wednesday, HCHS (20-1 overall) has responded with a 12-4 (game two) win over the Black Raiders and a hard-fought victory over one of Class 3-A’s top programs.
 Sergeant Bluff-Luton (20-5) rallied for two runs in the top of the seventh Friday before Schmitz was able to retire the final two batters on ground balls to the left side with the tying run in scoring position. Shortstop Dillon Sears made a particularly good play on Brady Click’s slow bouncer up the middle to record the second out of the inning.
 “I thought this was one of the better games we’ve played this year, especially defensively,” said HCHS head coach Steve Daeges. “(Schmitz) really did a nice job of keeping his ball down and throwing strikes. He only gave up three hits on the night. I thought we really played well, particularly in the infield. Dillon Sears just played lights out all night.”
 Daeges added that the team also played well in its lone loss at East but just couldn’t get the big two-out hit it needed despite hitting the ball hard. Daeges, though, didn’t lose any sleep over his team’s 24-game win streak being snapped.
 “It’s kind of nice, in some ways, to get that monkey off our back,” he said. “We don’t have to worry about everybody talking about the streak and all that stuff.”