MVC Baseball and Softball enter final month of regular season
By Ray Popkess
The 2026 Spring baseball and softball seasons are winding down as teams vie for the final Mississippi Valley Conference Championship. As of May 4, Triad Baseball sits atop the MVC with an 18-5 (5-1) record while Triad Softball currently sits third behind Mascoutah and Waterloo with a record of 15-8 (3-2).
Baseball
Triad suffered its first conference loss of the season to Waterloo last week. Despite giving up some ground in the conference, they finished the week with a 3-1 record with wins over Collinsville, Waterloo and Sacred Heart-Griffin.
The Knights’ matchup with Collinsville on Tuesday, April 28 saw the scoring open up with Keegan Seipp’s seventh home run of the season after a one-out triple from Carter Gaskill in the bottom of the first.
Later on in the bottom of the third, Brody Hasquin knocked a two-out, two-RBI double putting Triad up 4-0.
Collinsville got one run back in the top of the fourth on an RBI single from Cal Swartz.
Keegan Seipp put the Knights back up by four with an RBI triple in the bottom of the fifth.
Triad first baseman Keegan Seipp takes a cut at a ball during an at-bat against Waterloo on April 29. (Ray Popkess photo)
Swartz plated the final run of the game on a bases loaded infield single.
Pierce Goodfield threw five and a third innings pitched while striking out four and surrendering the two runs.
Triad’s second game of the week was a home contest against Waterloo on Wednesday, April 29. The Bulldogs grabbed a two-run lead in the top of the second on a bases loaded single to right field and never let it go. Triad got one run back in the next half on a two-double from Nathan Klucker that scored Hasquin, but that was all the bats could muster.
The Knights made up the ground they lost the following day when they traveled to Waterloo to close out the two-game series.
Kade Rocca put the Knights on the board in the second inning with a sacrifice fly, scoring Auggie Bugger who reached on a single.
Klucker put Triad up 2-0 in the fourth inning by leading off the frame with a solo blast. Kannon Seipp singled three batters later with a runner on, scoring Triad’s third run. Keegan Seipp singled Kannon home before the inning ended.
Nolan Keller made it 6-0 Triad with an RBI double in the fifth inning, bringing home Klucker who reached on an error and Bugger who reached on a walk.
Waterloo tallied their first run in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double, but Matt Morris finished out the inning on the mound for Triad.
Grayson Yank took over in the seventh for the Knights and kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
Triad finished off their week with a lopsided, 10-0 victory against SHG. Keegan Seipp launched his eighth home run of the season, a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth that helped the Knights close out the shortened, six-inning game. Braxton Yates went three-for-four and scored two runs out of the leadoff spot. Kody Anderson pitched all six innings for Triad, giving up only three hits and striking out two.
Softball
The Lady Knights got off to a tremendous start to their game on Tuesday, April 28 against Mascoutah. They put up seven runs in the top of the first before the game was postponed due to weather.
The following day they were slated to take on Waterloo and did not have the same offensive output as the day before.
Triad second baseman Kenzie Becker drops down a bunt to advance runners on base against Waterloo on April 29. (Ray Popkess photo)
With 11 total hits in the game, Waterloo pieced together seven runs of their own and didn’t surrender any runs back to the Lady Knights until the bottom of the seventh. Chatham Nemsky tried to give Triad life by singling home Alli Lintz with two outs, but Nemsky was thrown out attempting to advance to third after a wild throw.
Hits and runs were hard to come by in Triad’s next game against Belleville East.
The Lancers picked up their first run of the game in the bottom of the first when pitcher Abi Monroe launched a home run to center field.
Belleville East scored their next and final two runs via a home run in the bottom of the fourth.
Triad got on the board in the top of the fifth after Addison Mallette and Addison Hagarty hit back-to-back singles. Kenzie Becker hit a sacrifice fly deep enough into foul territory to allow Mallette to score, but it proved to be Triad’s only run of the game.
Despite the losses, Hagarty continues to rake at the plate as she has compiled a 15-game hitting streak dating back to March.
Coming up…
Triad Baseball will take on O’Fallon on Saturday, May 9 in one of the more anticipated matchups of the season, as both teams are regularly ranked in the top-10 of large Illinois schools according to ScoutConnect.
Triad Softball looks ahead to matchups with Mascoutah and Collinsville to close out their regular season. They will host the Indians on Wednesday, May 13 and travel to the Kahoks on Friday, May 15.
