A St. Louis team has spiked to the top of the Mon-Clair League baseball standings as the regular season enters its final stretch of games. 

The St. Louis Spikes went 4-0 over the weekend to make things interesting with the defending league champion Valmeyer Lakers in a battle for first place. 

The Spikes (15-8) won three games against the Lakers and edged the Waterloo Buds in recent action. 

In their first game on Saturday, the Spikes downed Valmeyer by the score of 9-1. Gavin Huebner and Keith Wallace collected three hits each and Jaxson Grubbs went 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs as St. Louis sent Valmeyer ace lefty Jacob Thompson to his first loss. 

In game two on Saturday, the Spikes pulled off a 4-3 victory in nine innings over Waterloo. St. Louis trailed 3-0 after four innings, only to tie it up in the fifth.

Grubbs went 2-for-4 with his second homer of the day and another three RBIs.

On Sunday, the Spikes blasted the Lakers to the tune of 10-0 and 14-9. 

In the first game, Huebner, Brandon Gutzler, Jake Radosevich and Mason McMurray all homered for the Spikes. 

In the second game, Sean Raffa went 4-for-4 and St. Louis got three hits each from Gutzler and Wallace. 

The Spikes boast three of the league’s top hitters by average, with Huebner leading the way at .482 with 21 RBIs, then Gutzler at .440 with 20 RBIs and Grubbs at .391 with 17 RBIs.

St. Louis also has the second and third best pitcher by earned run average in the league this season, those being Adam Beiber (3-2, 1.12 ERA) and Zach Mevert (2-1, 1.25 ERA). 

The Spikes battle Belleville this Friday night in Waterloo, then face Millstadt in Valmeyer on Sunday afternoon. 

There wasn’t much to highlight for the Lakers (14-7) in their four losses over the weekend. 

Following the Saturday loss to the Spikes, Valmeyer lost 3-2 to Waterloo in extra innings. 

In the second loss on Sunday to the Spikes, the Lakers got three hits from Kameron Hanvey and two hits each from Evan Davis and Raul Cosme. 

Hanvey leads Valmeyer in hitting this season at .358.

On the mound, lefty Philip Reinhardt is the league’s top pitcher with a 0.95 ERA to go with his 4-0 record. Thompson is now 5-1 with a 1.49 ERA.

Valmeyer will look to right the ship as it plays a Saturday doubleheader at Waterloo before hosting both Belleville and Edwardsville this Sunday. 

All three of Waterloo’s recent contest were one-run affairs, with the Buds winning two of them. 

Following Saturday’s narrow extra-innings loss to the Spikes, Waterloo rallied to edge Valmeyer in eight innings. 

Ty Williams homered for the Buds and Nate Albrecht collected two hits in addition to picking up the mound victory in relief of starter Porter Fike. 

On Sunday, Waterloo pulled out a 7-6 win over Belleville. 

Based on the qualifying amount of at-bats, Ty Kueper leads the Buds in hitting at .378 with 10 RBIs. 

Alex Schreckenberg is hitting .405 with eight stolen bases for Waterloo in 11 games played. 

The Buds play Sunday at Millstadt following Saturday’s home doubleheader against Valmeyer. 

The Millstadt Green Machine (11-10) went 4-0 over the weekend to climb above .500 on the season. 

On Saturday, Millstadt got a 3-2 win over Belleville and a 9-5 victory over Edwardsville. 

Jake Stedman went the distance on the hill and Tony Kossina collected two hits with two runs scored for the Green Machine over Belleville. The Rockies plated two runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game, only to see Millstadt walk it off in the bottom of the inning. 

In the win over Edwardsville, Cal Kossina went 4-for-4 with three stolen bases and a pair of RBIs. Tony Kossina went 3-for-4 with three runs. 

On Sunday, Millstadt won 11-1 and 13-0 over Edwardsville. Joey Kossina had four hits and both Tony and Cal Kossina collected three hits each on the day. 

Tony Kossina, a veteran shortstop, leads Millstadt in hitting at .433. Brian Lupa is hitting .353 with 15 RBIs.

Stedman is 4-1 with a 3.28 ERA.

Millstadt hosts Belleville for a Saturday doubleheader, then hosts both the St. Louis Spikes and Waterloo Buds on Sunday.