- Sophomore Jaylen Ziegler leads Bears with a home run and three runs batted in
- Sophomore Camden Kaufman and freshman Jackson Manning drive in two runs apiece
- Sophomore J.C. Dermody tosses a four-hitter and strikes out five
The DMACC baseball team handed Westchester Community College (WCC) a 10-0 loss in an elimination game May 28 at the 2024 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II Baseball World Series in Enid, Okla.
The Bears, who improved to 38-25 for the season, face St. Johns River State College (SJRSC) in another elimination game at 3 p.m. today.
DMACC, the tournament's No. 9 seed, topped 12th-seeded WCC in a game that was called after six innings because of the mercy rule. DMACC broke a 0-0 tie with a pair of runs in the top of the third and padded its advantage with two more runs in the fourth and put the game away with five runs in the fifth inning and one in the sixth.
Sophomore Jaylen Ziegler of Urbandale paced DMACC with a home run and three runs batted in. Sophomore Camden Kaufman of Waukee and freshman Jackson Manning of Keosauqua drove in two runs apiece and sophomore J.C. Dermody tossed a four-hitter to improve to 5-1 for the season.
Ziegler got the Bears their two-run lead in the third when he homered after sophomore Noah Thein of Dewitt opened the inning by getting hit with a pitch. Ziegler also drove in DMACC's first run in the fourth when his sacrifice fly scored freshman Sam Hesselmann of Johnston, who opened the inning with a base on balls, moved to second on a wild pitch and got to third on a bloop double by Thein. Sophomore Dillon Kuehl of Urbandale then singled, scoring Thein.
The Bears, one of seven teams still alive in the tournament, all but put the game out of reach with their two-out, five run rally in the fifth. Manning started it with a triple that scored sophomore Kannon Coakley of Maquoketa, who had singled earlier in the inning. Thein and Ziegler then walked and Manning scored on a wild pitch with Thein coming home on a bases-loaded walk to sophomore Cael Boever of Sioux City. Kaufman's base hit scored Ziegler and Kuehl with the final two runs of the inning.
Coakley closed out the DMACC scoring when he was hit by a pitch to open the sixth, took second on a balk and scored on Manning's single.
Kuehl and Manning led the Bears in hitting with two hits apiece and Kuehl and Boever each drove in one run.
Dermody pitched all six innings in getting the win. He struck out five and walked two.
SJRSC, the tournament's No. 5 seed, takes a 40-24 record against DMACC. The Vikings won their first two tournament games before dropping a 4-2 decision to top-seeded LSU-Eunice (LSUE) on May 28. The DMACC-SJRSC winner will face LSUE May 30 at 7 p.m. The DMACC-SJRSC loser will be eliminated from the tournament.