l 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 (15-9) won’t know its Class 3A regional pairing until Wednesday, but the results to this point indicate the Bulldogs will be a tough out for most any opponent.

Prior to a loss on Tuesday to a one-loss Nashville squad, 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 Carter 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 .410 with five home runs, 23 RBIs, 23 runs and 17 stolen bases.

Lindhorst is the top pitcher with a 2.04 ERA in 37 and two-thirds innings. 

Columbia (13-11) won 8-3 on 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 played Tuesday at Pleasant Plains, host Litchfield on Wednesday, 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 .423 with a .523 on base percentage, 16 RBIs and 18 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 Tuesday’s loss at Althoff. 

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.

Luke Blackwell and Evan Hill had two hits each for Valmeyer, with Ethan Roy picking up the pitching win in relief.

On 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 Dupo on Wednesday, then 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 .458 with a .562 on base percentage, three homers, 12 doubles and 25 runs.

Gibault (7-16) 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. Peyton 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 .323 with 12 RBIs and 16 runs.

Dupo (2-15) 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.