DMACC baseball team faces NECC in first round of Region XI tournament

Posted: May 11, 2022

DMACC is the tournament's No. 3 seed
NECC is seeded sixth
NECC won two of the three games played between the two teams during the regular season

The DMACC baseball team will face Northeast (Neb.) Community College (NECC) in the first round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI Division II Baseball Tournament May 12 at Mount Mercy Field in Cedar Rapids.

Game time is 2 p.m. following a first-round game between fourth-seeded Southeastern Community College (SECC) and fifth-seeded Iowa Central Community College (ICCC).

DMACC takes a No. 3 seed and a 34-20 record into the game. NECC is the tournament's sixth seed and was 38-17 during the regular season. The Hawks won two of three matchups against the Bears. DMACC was victorious by a 2-1 score in the first game of a doubleheader April 27 at the DMACC baseball diamond. NECC won the second game, 10-7, and also took a 9-inning single game May 4 at Norfolk, Neb., 13-5.

The Bears bring a .313 team batting average into the game. They have a .430 on-base percentage and a .475 slugging percentage.

Freshman Reed Stallman of Alburnett is DMACC's top hitter with a .419 average and Covid-19 freshman (CoFR) Jake Thilges is Johnston is hitting .383. Thilges and freshman Jake Brill of Maple, Wis., top the Bears in home runs with seven apiece and Thllges has a team-high 47 runs batted in with freshman Brodie Kresser of Jesup driving in 43 runs. DMACC has outscored its opponents, 414-316.

The DMACC pitching staff has compiled a 5.54 earned run average to the opponents' 7.57. Freshman Simon Gregersen of Ramsey, Minn., leads Bears pitchers with a 6-2 record and also tops the staff in saves with seven. He has a 1.31 ERA over 34 and a third innings pitched.

CoFR Anthony Potthoff of Van Meter is 5-3 with a 5.02 ERA and CoFR Jackson Stewart of Urbandale, Covid-19 sophomore (CoSO) Bret Price, Jr., of Boone and CoFR Kaleb Krier of Altoona are all 4-2. Stewart has a 6.66 ERA; Price is at 5.30 and Krier is at 4.91.

The DMACC-NECC winner will play second-seeded North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) May 13 at 11 a.m. The DMACC-NECC loser will face the SECC-ICCC loser in an elimination game May 12 at 5 p.m.

DMACC swept all three of its games against NIACC, winning by scores of 6-3, 5-3 and 5-3. The Bears were 2-1 against SECC and 1-2 against ICCC.

The Region XI double-elimination tournament continues through May 15 at Mount Mercy Field in Cedar Rapids with the championship game scheduled for 1 p.m. on May 15. A second championship game, if necessary, will be played at 4 p.m. on May 15.

The Region XI champion will play the Region XIII champion in a double-elimination district tournament May 20 and 21 at the home of the Region 13 champion. Region XIII includes teams from Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, the upper peninsula of Michigan and a portion of eastern Montana.