Updated Illinois Power 25 Rankings

CLIMBING

+ No. 6 Mundelein (11-1) and No. 7 Lockport (14-1): Both the Mustangs and Porters move up one spot in this most recent update after highly productive weeks. Mundelein has yet to lose a game in Illinois this spring, their lone loss came on their spring break trip, and they swept conference foe Stevenson last week while also defeating Grant 8-5. Lockport responded nicely after dropping a game to Naperville Central on April 9th, ripping off five straight victories, including a sweep of Providence Catholic and a walk-off win over Lincoln-Way West. These two teams look every bit the part of true contenders at the 4A level and are playing highly competitive baseball at the right time of the spring. 

+ No. 8 Yorkville (14-1): After falling out of the Power 25 two weeks ago, the Foxes earned their way back in at No. 17 last week and now, after an impressive 5-0 week, vault up nine spots to eighth on our list. Yorkville started their week off with a shutout victory over Plainfield Central and followed it up by defeating a quality Joliet West team 9-1 on the road. They exploded for 16 runs against Plainfield South and swept Metea Valley on Saturday. The Foxes have won 11 straight games and their only loss all season came at the finale of their spring break trip. With a pitching group that consists of a handful of high-octane arms and an offense that’s clicking, Yorkville looks the part of a team that can make a run come June. 

+ No. 11 Belleville East (13-2): A 4-0 week has Belleville East rising upwards, up five spots from No. 16 in last week’s update. They swept Alton early on, holding them to just two runs across both games and scoring 20 in total. They rode a dominant complete game performance on the mound by RHP Ean DiPasquale (2023) to victory against a quality Columbia team and pounded out 10 more runs against Mater Dei on Saturday to close out the week on a high note. The Lancers have a tough week ahead of them with a two-game set against O’Fallon to start things up. 

+ No. 14 Mount Carmel (13-4): Even with four losses, the Caravan have unquestionably one of the state’s most dominant pitching staffs and their offense showed what it’s capable of doing last week, and they’re up eight spots this week. Five RBIs from C/OF Colin Horneman (2022; Lincoln Trail JC) helped lead them to victory against Loyola on Monday and he proved valuable again on Thursday, delivering a walk-off knock to defeat St. Rita. LHP Shane Curtin (2022; Creighton) punched out seven in a no-hitter Saturday against Richards and the offense exploded again, scoring 10 runs on 10 hits. Mount Carmel is clicking at the right time, with powerhouses like Brother Rice and St. Laurence on the horizon. 

+ No. 18 Breese Central (18-1): The top-ranked team at the 2A level on our rankings, the Cougars rose up six spots from last week, now at No. 18, even with a late-loss to Mascoutah last Saturday. They flat-out dominated offensively, scoring 18, 15, 11, and 14 runs in all four of their victories last week, respectively. The Cougars head to Freeburg on Thursday for an integral matchup between arguably the two best teams in the Cahokia Conference. 

+ No. 21 Barrington (8-1-2): The Broncos won all three of their games convincingly last week, scoring 35 runs in total and holding their opponents to three. A 7-1 victory against Fremd started the week off, led by six strong innings from RHP Logan Eisenbarth (2022; Wisconsin-Whitewater). RHP Danny Hoffman and 3B/RHP Bruno Pallan (2022; Dubuque) blanked Elk Grove on Thursday while the offense pounded out 15 runs on 17 hits, led by J.D. Swabrick, Eisenbarth, RHP/OF Jake Kohanzo (2022), and RHP/3B Payton Soske (2023). A 13-3 win over Bolingbrook concluded Barrington’s strong week and the Broncos’ have plenty of momentum heading into a busy week, with conference-foes Conant, Fremd, and Prospect on the horizon. 

SINKING

+ No. 13 Naperville Central (9-2): The Redhawks lost their first two games of the season last week, going 2-and-2 while dropping seven spots as a result. Central lost two-of-three to DuPage Valley Conference foe Waubonsie while also knocking off Plainfield East 11-5. The Redhawks still have one of the most complete lineups in the state and should be able to bounce back after the up-and-down week. 

+ No. 19 Lincoln-Way East (10-3): A Saturday loss to Lemont put the Griffins record at 2-1 for the week and they dropped two spots to No. 17 as a result. Outside of the 11-3 loss to Lemont, the Griffins took down Andrew 10-2 and conference rival Lincoln-Way Central 11-7. The upcoming week should be quite telling as Lincoln-Way East has three games scheduled against Power 25 opponents, including two against No. 7 Lockport.

+ No. 23 Minooka (11-3): The Indians slid two spots after a 3-1 week, which included a 12-10 loss to Lincoln-Way West who jumped into the Power 25 for the first time at No. 19. Minooka also knocked off Romeoville 10-9, Joliet Central 14-2 and Plainfield East 5-4. 

+ No. 12 St. Charles East (6-1-1): The Saints earned their way back onto the Power 25 for the first time since week one in this update with a few quality wins under their belt. They beat Oak Park-River Forest and Downers Grove South two weeks ago, riding that momentum to a three-game conference sweep of Lake Park this past week. The Preseason No. 23 team in the state is finally getting some games under their belt with their pitching leading the way; they only gave up two runs in their three-game sweep last week.

+ No. 15 Oak Park-River Forest (7-3): Another Preseason Power 25 team to make the leap back into the rankings are the Huskies from OPRF. The Huskies went 3-1 on the week, including a big series win over Hinsdale Central who was ranked No. 9 at the time. The Huskies lost the first game of the series 6-1 but bounced back with a 3-0 and 10-4 win to make a statement. They also knocked off Leyden 20-5 on the week. Up next for the Huskies is a three-game set against Downers Grove North who has an impressive lineup in their own right.

+ No. 19 Lincoln-Way West (7-2): The Warriors are another team to jump into the Power 25 after a 3-1 week. The only two losses so far in the season have come against No. 7 Lockport with the most recent being a 14-13 walk-off loss this past week. Outside of that loss, Lincoln-Way West took down Bremen, Bolingbrook and No. 23 Minooka by a score of 12-10 on the week. Lincoln-Way West has been getting steady offensive contributions from sophomore Cole Crafton (Louisville commit), uncommitted junior Kaleb Wilke and unsigned senior Harrison Scroggins, among others. 

+ No. 22 Morton (13-1): With one of the younger rosters on this update, the Potters find themselves on here following a perfect 4-0 week, defeating Rochester, Williamsville, and sweeping a two-game set against Pekin pretty convincingly. They’re 13-1 on the season and have a tough week ahead of them, with two games against Washington and Tremont, respectively, and a bout with Galesburg on the schedule, too. 

DROPPED OUT

+ Jacobs (7-3)

+ Providence Catholic (6-6)

+ Plainfield Central (12-4)

+ Stevenson (10-4)

+ Normal University (8-5)

JUST MISSED THE CUT

+ Washington (15-3)

+ Warren (11-2)

+ St. Joseph-Ogden (14-2)

+ Triad (13-3)

+ Maroa-Forsyth (14-0)

+ Grayslake Central (10-2)

+ Loyola (8-3)

+ Lemont (9-3)

+ Libertyville (12-5)

+ Dixon (7-1)

+ Mascoutah (12-3)

+ North Clay (15-2)

+ Richmond-Burton (12-3)

+ Champaign Central (13-2)

+ Freeport (9-0)

+ Hononegah (5-1)

+ South Elgin (7-1)

+ Paris (16-1)

+ Mahomet-Seymour (10-3)

UPDATED TOP-10

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