After a tiebreaker was used to determine this year’s regular season champion, the Mon-Clair League baseball playoffs are now set to begin this weekend.

By virtue of going 4-1 over the Valmeyer Lakers during league play, the St. Louis Spikes captured the top spot in the standings with a 16-9 record. The Lakers, last year’s regular season and playoff champs, also finished with a 16-9 mark.

Both teams received first round byes and will await the winners of Saturday’s Belleville vs. Waterloo and Edwardsville vs. Millstadt contests to be played in Millstadt.

The Waterloo Buds (12-13) closed out their regular season with six straight wins. 

On Friday, the Buds won 11-3 over Edwardsville. Brady Mathews, a southpaw who had success on the mound for Columbia High School, struck out seven in four innings for the victory. Eric Creech, Nate Albrecht and TJ Williams collected three hits each and collectively drove in seven of the team’s runs.

On Saturday, Waterloo swept a doubleheader over the Lakers, winning 5-4 and 9-1. 

In the 5-4 win, Alex Schreckenberg went 3-for-3 with an RBI. The trio of Creech, Albrecht and Sam Wahlig collected two hits apiece.

In the 9-1 victory, Williams went 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs. Schreckenberg added two hits and three RBIs. Landon Moore pitched a complete game two-hitter for the Buds.

Waterloo closed out its schedule Sunday with an 8-2 win over Millstadt. Ty Kueper went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Schreckenberg again added a pair of hits. Porter Fike was the winning pitcher for the Buds, who face Belleville at 1 p.m. Saturday in Millstadt.

The leading hitters this season for the Buds are Schreckenberg (.442), Albrecht (.374), Kueper (.356) and Creech (.346).

The top pitcher this season for Waterloo has been southpaw Matt McGilvray with an ERA of 2.78 in 22-plus innings.

Following Saturday’s losses to Waterloo, the Valmeyer Lakers rallied for two wins on Sunday to end their regular season on a high note. 

First it was a 3-1 win over Belleville. Lakers lefty Jacob Thompson pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts and no earned runs allowed. Jose Mieses went 3-for-4 with two runs and Kenny Otero added two hits.

Then it was a 7-4 win over Edwardsville. Otero homered and Trevor Davis picked up the mound victory. Valmeyer also got two hits each from Mieses, Kameron Hanvey, Adrian Martinez and Matt Helm. 

The top pitchers for Valmeyer this summer have been Thompson (6-1, 1.25 ERA in 44-plus innings) and fellow southpaw Philip Reinhardt (4-0, 0.95 ERA in 22 innings). 

On offense, top hitters for the Lakers include Jonah James (.395) and Hanvey (.328). 

The Millstadt Green Machine (13-12) split with Belleville on Saturday and won against the Spikes on Sunday prior to Sunday’s loss to Waterloo. 

Following an 8-1 loss to the Rockies, Millstadt blasted Belleville to the tune of 13-3. Tony Kossina went 3-for-4 with two runs and Joey Kossina went 2-for-3 with a triple and four RBIs.

In Sunday’s win over the Spikes, a 10-run sixth propelled the Green Machine forward. Brian Lupa homered and drove in three runs. Cal Kossina went 3-for-5 with two runs.

Millstadt hosts Edwardsville at 4 p.m. Saturday in the playoffs.

The leading hitters for the Green Machine are Tony Kossina (.422), Lupa (.350, 21 RBIs) and Joey Kossina (.349, 19 RBIs).

The winners of Saturday’s playoff games in Millstadt will face Valmeyer and St. Louis on Sunday in Waterloo starting at noon. 

The final two teams standing after Sunday will face off in a best-of-three championship series next Saturday and Sunday at Borsch Park in Valmeyer.