The Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) baseball team suffered a 10-5 setback to Kirkwood Community College (KCC) in the first round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI Baseball Tournament May 11 at Waterloo.

KCC pulled away from a 1-1 tie with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third and padded its lead with three runs in the fifth to open up a 6-1 advantage. DMACC scored twice in the top of the sixth and added another run in the seventh to make it a 6-4 game, but KCC responded with four runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 10-4 advantage. The Bears scored their final run in the top of the ninth.

Freshman Jack Johnson of St. Paul, Minn., led DMACC's 11-hit attack with three hits, including a double, and sophomore Michael Michalak of Rochester, Minn., and freshman Brandon Heilskov of Ankeny had two hits apiece. Johnson, Heilskov and sophomores Nick Moffitt of West Des Moines and Sean Noel of Stillwater, Minn., drove in runs for the Bears.

Sophomore Malik Moore of Waukee started on the mound for DMACC and suffered his fourth loss of the season against five wins. He pitched five innings, allowing six runs on 10 hits and struck out six batters. Freshman Tyler Bujanowski of Oak Creek, Wis., pitched an inning and two-thirds, allowing four runs on four hits and freshman Moise Carrasco of Daytona, Fla., worked an inning and a third, allowing two hits and striking out two batters.

DMACC, 28-26 on the season, faces Ellsworth Community College (ECC) in an elimination game at noon today. The Bears split a four-game series with the Panthers during the regular season. The double-elimination tournament continues through May 14 when the championship game is scheduled to be played at 3:30 p.m.