WATERLOO - Kirkwood Coach Todd Rima hugged all of his players Saturday after they played their final game of the 2013 season.

There were tears in their eyes.

The Eagles battled No.2 DMACC for much of the day before falling, 9-2, in the losers bracket of the NJCAA DII regional tournament at Riverfront Stadium on a cold, blustery day in Waterloo.

Rima got a little misty-eyed as he began thanking all his players for their effort this year, then began crying as the procession continued.

Many of the players cried, too. Rima said they cried because they cared.

"We've started laying the foundation of the program," said Rima, who finished his first year at Kirkwood with a 30-16 mark. "You see what it means to those kids and you see how much they mean to each other. That's how you build a program.

"We're going in the right direction," he said.

The Eagles trailed 3-2 after 6 1/2 innings against DMACC, but the Bears (42-10) scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh to bust it open.

Kirkwood collected 10 hits, five walks and two hit-batters in the nine-inning contest and had numerous chances to score more runs. The Eagles stranded 12 runners, had three runners thrown out on the bases and twice left the bases loaded.

The Eagles suffered a similar fate in their 2-1 loss to NIACC in the opening round Friday.

"We were right there," said Rima. "You know what? Our kids played awesome all weekend. We were one hit away in both games.

"Our pitchers were tremendous. We let one inning get away from us. Otherwise we were right there."

Starting pitcher Collin Belk left the game with Kirkwood trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh with one out and the bases loaded. Jean Carlos Rosario got the second out and had a two-strike count on the next batter, but Blake Molitor lined a two-run single to make it 5-2.

Aaron Overbeck followed with an RBI single to make it 6-2 and Charlie Coghlin hit a two-run double to make it 8-2 and the cause was lost.

"It's not for lack of effort," said Rima. "They fought."

Kirkwood will lose 14 sophomores from this year's team, including Belk and top hitter Dairo Gonzalez, who contended for the triple crown in the ICCAC. Gonzalez ranked No.1 in the league in home runs (8) and RBIs (50) and was second in batting (.423) entering the regional tournament.

Rima said he wants to find more hitters, build pitching depth and get more athletic next year.

"We're going to continue to get the right kids in here to get this program where it needs to be," he remarked.

KIRKWOOD (2): Schenck-Joblinske, lf, 4 1 1 0, Rodriguez, 3b, 5 1 3 0, Gonzalez, c, 3 0 1 1, Jones, dh, 4 0 1 1, Colon, ss, 3 0 1 0, Feliz, cf, 4 0 1 0, Hernandez, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Adams, 2b, 3 0 1 0, Kemp, rf, 3 0 1 0. Totals 32 2 10 2.

DMACC (9): Medina, cf, 4 1 0 2, Fiala, 2b, 4 1 0 1, Serratore, c, 4 0 0 0, .Molitor, dh, 4 2 2 2, Overbeck, 3b, 3 1 1 1, Coghlin, 1b, 4 0 3 2, Wolfe, ss, 3 1 1 0, Leuschke, rf, 4 2 4 1, Williams, lf, 3 1 0 0. Totals 33 9 11 9.

Kirkwood   100 000 100 - 2 10 2
DMACC      010 020 51x - 9 11 1

Belk, Rosario (7), Bakeris (8) and Gonzalez. Hamer, Ayala (7) and Serratore. W - Hamer. L - Belk. 2B - Schenck-Joblinske, Gonzalez, Coghlin. SB - Rodriguez, Williams.