The Monroe-St. Clair County Baseball League kicked off its season Sunday with league double-headers at Waterloo and Columbia.

The Columbia Saints dropped their first game against the Belleville Rockies, 4-1. The Valmeyer Lakers took on the Rockies next at Kleinschmidt Field in Columbia, with the Lakers dropping their first game of the season, 3-1. The Saints and the Lakers matched up for the final contest of the day, with the Lakers coming out on top, 7-0. At right, Ryan Bridgewater attempts to pick off Valmeyer runner Adam Kunkel on a wild throw by the Columbia pitcher.

Meanwhile, the Waterloo Millers split in their first outing of the season, shutting out the St. Louis Printers in the first game, 3-0, and dropping their second game, 10-4, to the Fairview Heights Redbirds. At left, Waterloo’s Jeremiah Bergheger just misses a tag on Fairview’s Brady Nowak. (Greg Stanek photos)