End-of-the-Month Roundup: March

Today’s April 1 and the high school season is underway.

The PBR Illinois team spent the first part of March previewing a ton of programs from all corners of the state. The team also took a trip down to Edwardsville to celebrate opening day in the state at the Metro East Kickoff Classic.

Anyway, there’s plenty of news, notes, and analysis you may have missed along the way. This post is packed with convenient links and news over the past month. Check out all the items that may have slipped past your radar on the bulleted list below.

HIGH SCHOOL COVERAGE

We previewed the top-25-ranked programs prior to opening day. Check them out below.

• Latest IL Power 25 board, links to previews inside.

• Bubble Team Previews: Previews for Glenwood, Normal West, Loyola Academy, Rochester, and others can be found within the Power 25 link above.

• IL Scout Blog: Week 2 Games | Week 3 Games | Kickoff Classic

• Player of the Week: Marquis Jackson (March 20) | Mikey Kocen (March 27)

• Weekly Diamond Notes: POTW nominees who fell just short of the honor

The staff has also made it out to games since returning from the Kickoff Classic. Game stories can be found below.

• No. 23 Sandburg vs. Lincoln-Way Central

• No. 1 Marist vs. Thornton Fractional South

• No. 2 Brother Rice vs. No. 13 Homewood-Flossmoor

• No. 15 Lyons vs. St. Charles East

• Hampshire vs. Conant

• Plainfield East vs. No. 5 Providence Catholic

• No. 19 Prairie Ridge vs. Fremd

CLASS-BY-CLASS CHECK-IN

• Class of 2019: Top 10 | Risers & Newcomers

• Sophomore Winter Standouts: Lazaro Marquez is a barrel-chested, 6-foot righty who touched 91 mph at an underclass event over the offseason. His future is really bright and is going to work on polishing off his secondary next.

• Freshman Winter Standouts: De La Salle’s Christian Holmes was among the best middle infielders at the Illinois invite-only underclass event back in February and has a really interesting right-handed bat, and plays above his age.

EVENT ANALYSIS

• Underclass Invitational (2/17): C  | OF  | INF  | P  | Overall

• Preseason All-State (2/10): C  | OF  | INF  | P  | Overall

NATIONAL POV

• High School Crosscheck: Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7

• Our national staff released the Class of 2019 overall rankings and six prospects from Wisconsin are representing on the list.

• College Crosscheck (Hitters): Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

• College Crosscheck (Pitchers): Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

• MLB Draft News: Early Risers

JUCO WIRE

• While other leagues are preparing to get off the ground in March, the JUCO scene is practically in midseason form by this point. So, it was a big month of JUCO coverage for the JUCO Wire all month long. Click the previous hyperlink to find all relevant news, notes, and game recaps. The rankings are loaded with Illinois-repped programs.

• JUCO National Rankings: March 4 | March 18

• Follow @PBR_JUCO on Twitter to stay up to date on the latest.

PBR DRAFT HQ

• Coffee & Curveballs covers the colder weather states as high school action begins to open nationwide; players rising up national boards, too.

• The Official PBR Podcast covers the country’s top-ranked high school prospect, Bobby Witt Jr., elaborates on the cold-weather states opening their seasons.

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