Updated Illinois Power 25 Team Rankings

May 7, 2018
By Andy Sroka & Drew Locascio
Illinois Staff

Our latest edition of the Power 25 features some movement atop the board, including at No. 4 and 5. The season is quickly nearing the postseason and there were tons of games with playoff implications last week that affected the rankings up and down. With that being said, only one team slipped off the board, making way for the Mid-Suburban League’s Buffalo Grove.

Continue reading on for a breakdown of the updated Power 25 and a closer look at all of last week’s action.

UPDATED TOP 5

RANK	LAST WEEK	TEAM	CLASS	2018 RECORD
1	1	Neuqua Valley	4A	22-0
2	2	O'Fallon	4A	25-2-1
3	3	Joliet Catholic	3A	22-3
4	4	Plainfield North	4A	17-5
5	5	Brother Rice	4A	20-7

CLIMBING

+ Plainfield North - The Tigers have won eight of their last nine games and were a perfect 4-0 last week. Plainfield North, now sitting at No. 4 in the Power 25, knocked off Lemont, Oswego East and Joliet Central twice last week. The Tigers have a big week ahead with two games against Plainfield South, who currently sits on the bubble and one game against current No. 18 Plainfield East.

+ Sandburg - The Eagles have won 10 of their last 12 games and climbed to No. 7 in the Power 25 after a 2-0 week. Sandburg beat Top 10 Lincoln-Way East 4-2 and also took down Shepard 9-5. The Eagles have a test in front of them this week with two games against a talented Lockport squad and a game against Marian Catholic, a young but highly-athletic squad.

+ Mundelein - The Mustangs are enjoying a six-game win streak and are coming off a critical three-game sweep of ranked rivals Libertyville. They’re now leading the way in the competitive North Suburban Conference. No team makes as great a leap as Mundelein in this week’s update. They rocket up the board from No. 24 to No. 11 after a 4-0 week and, beyond their three critical Wildcat wins, they also downed Hononegah and are 18-5 this season.

+ Lyons Township - The Lions haven’t lost since April 23 and earned four wins in four games last week. At 16-4 this season, they’re just narrowly ahead of ranked rivals Oak Park-River Forest in the West Suburban Conference. This past week, Lyons swept Downers Grove North in three games, outscoring them 30-13, and defeated Willowbrook on Saturday. They received a two-spot bump and are now the No. 13-ranked team.

+ Edwardsville - Edwardsville played host to the 12th annual Tigers Baseball Classic over the weekend and they won the four-team tournament with three wins over Lockport, Highland, and Glenwood. In all, the Tigers won four of their five games last week. Their solid week of play allowed them to re-enter the top-15 for the first time since mid-April. Edwardsville’s now ranked No. 14 and the 2017 Class 4A runners-up seem to be getting the pieces together at the right time.

+ Oak Park-River Forest - The Huskies check in at No. 15 after today’s update, just a couple spots behind rivals Lyons. Similarly, they’re chasing the Lions in their West Suburban Conference, too. Oak Park-River Forest is 16-3 this season and and are on a six-game win streak. They swept Hinsdale Central in three games last week and added a big 19-4 win over Addison Trail to their resume on Saturday.

+ Marist - Up five spots in today’s update, now at a season-best No. 16, Marist has deserved their climb up the ranks, riding a lengthy hot streak. The Redhawks have just two losses in the last two weeks and have won eight games over that stretch. They might have one of the state’s most productive hitters, Jason Hodges, who’s been powering this offense all spring long, but especially lately. Last week, Marist split an exciting and dramatic two-game series with Carmel Catholic, downed this week’s new No. 5 Brother Rice, and swept St. Patrick in Saturday’s doubleheader. At 20-6 this spring, Marist is will be put to the test on Monday and Tuesday, squaring off against 3A powerhouse Joliet Catholic, but with the form they’re in they’ve never been more ready for the challenge.

+ Barrington - Since the Broncos were first included on a Power 25 board, on last week’s edition, Barrington has lost just once, and that was to ranked Plainfield North in a 1-0 contest. So, after a 1-1-2 start to the spring, Barrington has been stealthily gliding up the top-25 and are now the No. 17-ranked side. They now own an 18-3-2 record and are tied with Buffalo Grove atop the Mid-Suburban East, each undefeated. Last week, they won four games, including wins over ranked Libertyville and a two-game trouncing of Schaumburg, outscoring them 29-5.

SINKING

+ Lincoln-Way East - The Griffins had been locked within the top-five since early April but they slide four spots this week to No. 8 after enduring losses to ranked Sandburg and unranked crosstown rivals Lincoln-Way Central. Their two losses last week actually doubled their season total, so East is still in great shape at 20-4 overall. They’ll be tested this week against Stagg today and Tuesday and they square off against ranked Mount Carmel on Saturday.

+ Moline - After a 2-1 week featuring a loss to Galesburg, the Maroons fall five spots to No. 19 in the update. Moline still has an impressive 20-5 record on the season but a number of teams who jumped ahead of them are hot and have knocked off talented teams.

+ New Trier - The Trevians were ranked as high as No. 6 this season but they’ve been on a downward trend ever since, highlighted by their No. 20 rank in today’s update. New Trier has lost three of its last five games and went 2-2 last week, losing to Niles West and Ridgewood by one run in both games. They won nine of their first 10 games but have gone just 5-5 since.

+ Libertyville - The Wildcats are this update’s biggest sinkers, dropping 10 spots from No. 11 to No. 21. They are in the middle of weathering a five-game losing streak, all against ranked opponents. After losing to St. Charles North last Saturday, the Wildcats met with rivals Mundelein for a three-game, mid-week series. The Wildcats lost all three, including Monday’s ace’s duel between the Mustangs’ Steven Sanchez and their No. 1 Riley Gowens. That seemed to set the tone for the week as Libertyville has yet to recover. After Mundelein completed the sweep, Barrington won in walk-off fashion Saturday as Libertyville’s woes persisted. The Wildcats are an extremely talented group and are bound to bounce back. Hopefully for Libertyville this was just a minor hiccup in the long season.

+ Glenwood - The Titans earned a second-place finish at the Tigers Baseball Classic tournament in Edwardsville this past weekend, earning two wins against Highland and Lockport, but ultimately fell to the eventual champs and hosts Edwardsville on Saturday. It marked their second loss of the week, their first came to Rochester, a bubble team, on Wednesday. They had defeated Rochester the day before and that helped them cling to a spot on the Power 25, at No. 23. After a challenging week, the Titans schedule gets a little lighter, though they are set for a battle on Thursday with bubble team Mt. Zion.

+ St. Rita - The Mustangs play in the daunted Chicago Catholic - Blue and also play a challenging non-conference schedule. After an 0-2 week and a 15-10 overall record, St. Rita dropped four spots but is still hanging in the Power 25. The Mustangs were swept by No. 5 Brother Rice but still have a number of quality wins to hang their hat on. A big week lies ahead for the Mustangs as they four games, with two coming against No. 6 St. Laurence.

NEW TO THE TOP 25

+ No. 25 Buffalo Grove - A perfect 4-0 week pushed Buffalo Grove’s record to 21-3 on the week and go them a spot in the Power 25 for the first time this spring. The Bison swept two games on Saturday. In the morning they took down Wheeling 7-4 and then traveled to face Plainfield South in the afternoon. It took nine innings but the Bison pulled out a 9-8 win thanks to a solo home run delivered by Riley Rundquist in the top of the ninth. Buffalo Grove also knocked off Hoffman Estates and Wheeling once again earlier in the week.

DROPPED OUT

+ Plainfield South - An up-and-down 2-2 week leaves Plainfield South on the outside looking in. The Cougars split with a talented Plainfield East squad and lost to Buffalo Grove on Saturday. Their other game of the week was a 5-1 win over Joliet Central. The Cougars have a tough week ahead with two games against No. 4 Plainfield North and a game against Oswego. If things go well, they could easily find themselves back in the Power 25.