If they aren’t already, local high school baseball squads will be getting quite acquainted with each other in the upcoming days. 

In addition to the annual Monroe County Baseball Tournament taking place this Saturday, one upcoming regional tournament will feature three local squads.

Waterloo (16-9) just found out its Class 3A regional pairing Wednesday, with recent results pointing to the Bulldogs being a tough out for most any opponent. Waterloo opens regional play May 29 against Freeburg in Mascoutah. The other schools in that regional are Mascoutah, Cahokia and East St. Louis.

On Wednesday, the Bulldogs picked up a 7-3 victory over Civic Memorial. Chaten Kirchner went 4-for-4 with two runs and Carter Jones picked up the pitching win with five and one-thirds innings.

Prior to a loss on Tuesday to a one-loss Nashville squad during which the team only had two hits, Waterloo won 8-2 on Saturday over Carterville. Trey Conrod went 3-for-3 with an RBI, AJ Sensel had a hit and three RBIs, and both Patrick O’Donnell and Max Oswald collected two hits. O’Donnell was the winning pitcher, throwing five solid innings.

Last Wednesday, the Bulldogs won 7-2 at Du Quoin. O’Donnell went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs, Austin Martin went 2-for-4 with a home run, and Jones struck out nine in a complete game mound effort.

Last Tuesday, it was a 2-1 loss for Waterloo against Jerseyville as O’Donnell had the team’s only two hits. Conrad Lindhorst struck out 10 over six innings pitched.

Waterloo hosts Granite City on Thursday, with a special ceremony planned to honor retiring longtime head coach Mark Vogel at 4 p.m. All former players are encouraged to attend. 

The Bulldogs are set to play rival Columbia in the Monroe County Tournament at 10 a.m. on the Valmeyer High School field. The winner of this contest will face the winner of Gibault vs. Valmeyer at 12:30 p.m. at Borsch Park. Gibault and Valmeyer will play at 10 a.m. at Borsch.

O’Donnell is the top hitter for Waterloo at .405 with five home runs, 23 RBIs, 24 runs and 17 stolen bases. Kirchner is hitting .375 with a .500 on base percentage.

Lindhorst is the top pitcher with a 1.96 ERA in 39 and one-thirds innings. Jones is 4-0 with a 2.50 ERA in 28 innings pitched.

Columbia (13-12) lost 5-3 at Pleasant Plains on Tuesday. The Eagles trailed 4-0 after the first inning but battled back.

Columbia won 8-3 last Thursday at Salem courtesy of a five-run sixth inning. Brady Hemminghaus homered for the Eagles, who also got two hits each from Cash Bailey and Brody Landgraf. 

Last Tuesday, Columbia lost 4-2 to Salem despite two hits from Hemminghaus. 

The Eagles play Thursday at Highland and travel Friday to Mascoutah.

Columbia opens Class 2A Roxana Regional play May 22 against the winner of Wood River vs. Alton. Others in the regional are Staunton, Althoff and Roxana.

Micah James is the leading hitter for the Eagles at .413 with 18 RBIs and 20 runs. 

Connor Basinski is the top pitcher with a 2.19 ERA over 32 innings. 

The Class 1A Valmeyer Regional begins Monday and will feature Valmeyer, Gibault and Dupo in addition to Lebanon and New Athens. 

Valmeyer (9-16) had won three in a row prior to a 9-4 loss Tuesday at Althoff. 

On Wednesday, it was a 7-5 win for the Pirates at home over Dupo. Luke Blackwell homered and had four RBIs. Gavin Rau pitched six innings for the victory.

On Friday, the Pirates won 8-5 in 10 innings at Dupo. The Tigers plated three runs in the bottom of the seventh to extend the game. Blackwell and Evan Hill had two hits each for Valmeyer, with Ethan Roy picking up the pitching win in relief.

Last Thursday, Valmeyer won 5-4 at Steeleville after plating the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Tallen Jakimauskas threw six innings for the mound victory. 

Last Tuesday, it was a 3-1 win for the Pirates over Steeleville. Blackwell struck out seven over five innings for the win, and Ripken Voelker pitched two innings for the save. Valmeyer only had three hits but took advantage of nine free passes.

Valmeyer hosts the county tourney before hosting Waterloo on Monday. 

In its regional, Valmeyer will face Gibault next Wednesday. Dupo hosts Lebanon on Monday, and the winner of that contest will face New Athens on Wednesday.

Blackwell is the leading hitter for Valmeyer at .442 with a .547 on base percentage, four homers, 12 doubles , 15 RBIs and 28 runs.

Gibault (8-16) picked up an impressive 8-5 win at home over Belleville East on Wednesday, which was senior night. Layne Wilkens doubled and drove in three runs. Darrin Kunkelmann added two hits. Peyton Schaefer pitched six solid innings for the mound victory.

The Hawks won 4-3 at Mascoutah on Saturday courtesy of a three-run triple in the sixth off the bat of Kole Schilling. Carson Timmons threw five innings for the mound victory. 

Last Wednesday, the Hawks lost 4-1 at Mater Dei, collecting only three hits as a team.

Last Tuesday, Gibault dropped a 3-2 contest to Civic Memorial despite a complete game from freshman southpaw Dante Gianino. Schaefer had the only hit for the Hawks.

Gibault hosts Carlyle on Friday before playing in the county tourney, then hosts Breese Central on Monday. 

Michael Wessel leads the Hawks in hitting at .318 with 12 RBIs and 17 runs.

Dupo (2-16) got four hits each from Teegan Hargrove and Cole Hearty in its extra-inning loss Friday to Valmeyer. Deegan Prater pitched seven and two-thirds innings. 

Last Wednesday, it was a 7-1 defeat for the Tigers at the hands of Wood River. Dupo was held to just two hits.

Last Tuesday, the Tigers lost 8-3 to Lebanon. Getting the RBIs for Dupo were Hargrove, Jaxson Franke and Brady Portell. 

Prater is the top player for Dupo this season, hitting .404 with 14 runs and 12 RBIs in addition to his 3.77 ERA on the mound.

Dupo plays Thursday at Lebanon.