DES MOINES -- Led by repeat first-team selection Dillon Sears, four players from Harlan Community and one from Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton have been named to the Iowa Newspaper Association’s 2017 All-State Baseball teams released on Tuesday, August 1. A committee of INA writers selected first, second and third teams for classes 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A, also naming four senior captains. This year’s HCHS all-state baseball players include 3A first-team

 HARLAN -- The Harlan Community football team’s annual Cyclone Camp of Champions is being held this week (July 31-August 4) at Merrill Field in preparation for the 2017 season. According to HCHS head coach Curt Bladt, the varsity camp for grades 10-12 included 65 players as of Tuesday’s session.

 DES MOINES (July 29) -- Sometimes the only thing left to do is simply tip your hat. Playing in its third consecutive state championship game on Saturday, the Harlan Community baseball team ran into a future Iowa Hawkeye pitcher and a deep lineup loaded with seven college signees. Davenport Assumption, as advertised, was the real deal. The top-seeded and 2nd-ranked Knights (41-5) chipped away by scoring in every inning and used a 13-strikeout

 DES MOINES (July 28) -- For all of the dominant performances and 10-run blowouts during the course of a 36-win season, perhaps the true hallmark of this 2017 Harlan Community baseball team is the manner in which they respond when the chips are down and a game is on the line. The Cyclones did it again Friday afternoon at Principal Park, answering Sioux City Bishop Heelan’s game-tying three-spot in the top of the sixth with three runs of their

 DES MOINES (July 27) -- Harlan Community and Sioux City Bishop Heelan won’t need a formal introduction when the two teams get together for Friday’s 11 a.m.

 DES MOINES (July 25) -- With recent history as the guide, this one was vintage Harlan Community. A fast start with the bats, stingy pitching and game-changing defensive plays all added up to another victory Tuesday night as the top-ranked Cyclones defeated Oskaloosa 6-0 in a Class 3-A state baseball tournament quarterfinal at Principal Park. Improving to 6-1 in their last seven state tournament games, the defending state champions will take a

 DES MOINES (July 24) -- Perhaps sophomore Brett Sears said it best following Harlan Community’s 10-2 substate win over Denison-Schleswig last Wednesday. “We can kind of relax now, have a little fun and try to go do what we do at state,” said Sears, a third-year starter who has yet to end a varsity baseball season in anything but the 3-A state championship game. HCHS returns to the State Baseball Tournament in Des Moines this week for the seve

 PORTSMOUTH -- A 70th anniversary reunion of Iowa Western Baseball League Old-Timers will take place during the St. Mary’s Portsmouth Picnic on Sunday, July 30, in conjunction with the IWL Tournament championship game. The Old Timers include players who have participated in the league between 1947 and 2017. Old-Timer registration will start at 12:30 p.m.

 STATE -- Harlan Community junior Keaton Jones and AHSTW senior Preslyn Grobe both received honorable mention All-State recognition in June from the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association following outstanding 2017 seasons for the Cyclones and Vikings, respectively. Jones, a junior goalie, was named to the Class 2-A honorable mention list after helping the Cyclones finish 15-3 overall this past season (a school record for wins) and finish

 STATE -- Four members of the 2017 Harlan Community boys soccer team were named to the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association’s 2017 Academic All-State teams in June. The list includes two first-team selections and two second-team selections in Class 2-A. Junior midfielder Drew Voge and senior defender Alan Holloway were both named to the first team while senior defender Wren Koch and senior forward Jacob Henry earned second-team honors.

 HARLAN -- For the Harlan Community baseball team, the pressure of getting back to the state tournament reached a nerve-wracking crescendo at the halfway point of Wednesday’s Class 3-A, Substate 8 final against Denison-Schleswig. Facing a team they had soundly defeated by scores of 11-1 and 12-0 during the first half of the regular season, the top-ranked and defending state champion Cyclones suddenly found themselves in a 2-2 scuffle as they c

 HARLAN -- Steve Daeges is in his 24th year as Harlan Community’s head baseball coach, during which time the Cyclones have qualified for state 15 times and won three state titles. To his best recollection, Daeges had never witnessed a postseason no-hitter by one of his pitchers until Joshua Cheek pulled off that very feat here Monday night. Retiring nine straight Greene County batters on two separate occasions, Cheek pitched his first career n

 HARLAN -- The 12U Little Cyclones baseball team from Harlan finished 19-10 this season, capped by a 6-0 state championship performance at the 12U Division II State Tournament the weekend of June 30-July 2.

 HARLAN (July 14) -- The performance wasn’t overly impressive, nor an underachievement.

 COON RAPIDS -- The baseball field in Coon Rapids is a beautiful, fan-friendly venue and a yearly host site for Class 1-A district and substate games.