The regular season has come to a close in the Mon-Clair League, with the Millstadt Green Machine now setting a 2025 trifecta squarely in its sights.

Millstadt (18-7) finished with the league’s top regular season record after winning two of three games over the weekend. The Green Machine, winners of last year’s playoff championship, also won the Valmeyer Mid-Summer Classic title in July. 

On Friday, Millstadt finished a postponed game with Waterloo, winning 10-2. Evan Evola went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, and four RBIs. Jake Stedman and Tony Kossina added two hits each. 

Garrett Herring picked up the mound victory for the Green Machine. 

On Saturday, Millstadt won 10-4 and lost 14-4 against the Belleville Rockies. 

In the game one win, Evola went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. Brian Lupa also went 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

In the game two loss, the Rockies scored eight runs in the sixth inning to break the game open. Mike Breyman went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs for Belleville. 

Lupa collected three hits for Millstadt.

The Green Machine offense is led by Karl Peters at .448 with 26 RBIs, Lupa at .440 with 16 RBIs, Cal Kossina at .351 with 12 RBIs and Tony Kossina at .345.

The top pitchers for Millstadt are Stedman at 4-0 with a 2.91 ERA in 33-plus innings and Evan Spears at 4-2 with a 5.00 ERA in 35 innings.

Valmeyer (16-9) finished two games back of Millstadt for the top regular season mark. The Lakers also won two of three over the weekend. 

On Saturday, Valmeyer concluded a postponed game against Godfrey in Waterloo, winning 9-2. Matt Helm and Trevor Davis each homered, with the latter also picking a complete game pitching win.

Also on Saturday, the Lakers split a doubleheader with the Waterloo Buds. 

In game one, Valmeyer won 4-2. After the Buds scored one in the sixth inning to cut Valmeyer’s lead to 3-2, the Lakers added an insurance run in the seventh.

Evan Davis and Trevor Davis each had two hits for Valmeyer, which got a complete game from lefty starter Jacob Thompson with seven strikeouts.

In game two, Valmeyer lost 10-9 to the Buds in nine innings. After the Lakers scored three runs in the top of the ninth, Waterloo walked it off with four runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Helm homered again for the Lakers, who also got two hits and two RBIs from Evan Davis.

The top hitters for the Lakers are Kameron Hanvey at .415, Helm at .404 with 22 RBIs, Trevor Davis at .348 and Evan Davis at .339 with 18 RBIs.

Thompson remains the top pitcher for Valmeyer at 5-1 with a 1.88 ERA in 41 innings, followed by fellow lefty Philip Reinhardt at 3-2 with a 4.26 ERA in 44-plus innings.

In addition to Friday’s loss to Millstadt and Saturday’s split with Valmeyer, Waterloo (11-14) won 6-2 over Godfrey on Friday. 

The top hitter this season for the Buds is TJ Williams at .408 with 19 RBIs.

The top pitchers for the Buds are Erik Kaiser (3-1. 2.21 ERA in 19 innings) and Landon Moore (1-3, 3.50 ERA in 36 innings).

The playoffs begin this weekend in Millstadt in Belleville. 

On Saturday, Waterloo takes on the St. Louis Spikes at 1 p.m. and Belleville battles Godfrey at 4 p.m. in Millstadt.

The winners advance to Sunday, with Valmeyer taking on the second lowest remaining seed at 1 p.m. and Millstadt facing the lowest remaining seed at 4 p.m. 

The best-of-three playoff championship takes place next Saturday and Sunday at Borsch Park in Valmeyer.