Metro Sports Report

Eagles belt 3 homers in setback

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Evan Paulus, Kyle Moeder and D'Eric Shenault  belted home runs for the Kirkwood Eagles Sunday in an 18-13 loss to  Johnson County in the Kansas City suburbs.

Kirkwood lost all four games to Johnson County in their first series  of the 2020 campaign and was outscored, 42-19. Johnson County, which  is ranked No. 14 in NJCAA Division I, raised its record to 15-1.

Paulus drove in three runs for the Eagles and Chase Moseley had two  RBIs. Brook Heinen, Josh Fitzgerald, Moeder and Cade Moss had two  hits. Heinen scored three runs. Fitzgerald, Joel Vaske and Paulus  scored twice.

KCC men earn No. 1 seed for regional

The Kirkwood Eagles know exactly what it takes to win the national  title. Now the journey begins for two NJCAA crowns in a row.

The 11th-ranked Eagles whipped Iowa Central, 87-64, Saturday to finish  as co-champs of the ICCAC conference and claim the No. 1 seed for the  regional tournament.

Kirkwood (23-5) will host Little Priest Tribal College (6-19) in the  opening round of the regional Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The regional is packed with three other ranked teams with No. 5 DMACC,  No. 12 Iowa Lakes and No. 14 NIACC, so the road to nationals will not  be easy. The Eagles will probably have to defeat two ranked teams to  make it.

"I'm just excited. Really, really excited," said Seybian Sims, who  helped the Eagles win the 2019 national title. "I think we all feel  really good."

Sims enjoyed a big game Saturday. He shot 7-for-8 from the field,  drained all three of his 3-pointers, grabbed seven rebounds and dished  out four assists.

No. 4 Eagles begin with 19-0 spurt

The fourth-ranked Kirkwood women's basketball team scored the first 19  points of the game Saturday afternoon and defeated Iowa Central,  66-40, in an ICCAC conference affair at Johnson Hall.

Iowa Central scored its first point on a free throw with 1:17 left in  the first quarter to make it 19-1.

The Eagles finished the regular season with records of 27-3 overall  and 14-2 in the conference. Kirkwood drew the No. 2 seed for the  conference tournament and will host DMACC in the quarterfinals  Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Paige Bradford led Kirkwood with 19 points and nine rebounds.

Isabell West scored 13 points for Iowa Central (17-13, 8-8).

Eagles drop pair at Johnson County

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - The Kirkwood baseball team dropped a pair of  tight games to Johnson County Saturday, 4-1 and 6-5, in the Kansas  City suburbs.

The losses dropped the Eagles to 0-3 for the season. Johnson County,  which is ranked No. 14 in NJCAA Division I, raised its record to 14-1.

Josh Fitzgerald hit a solo home run for Kirkwood in the 4-1 loss in  the opener. Kyle Moeder was 2-for-3.

Kirkwood grabbed a 5-0 lead in the top of the third inning in the  nightcap, but Johnson County responded with three runs in the bottom  of the third and three more runs in the fifth inning for the 6-5  victory.