With the conclusion of this past weekend’s Class 3A and 4A State Tournament, we’ve compiled our Illinois Power 25 Final Team Rankings. It’s important to note that our rankings are not necessarily a final reflection of what happened during the playoffs, but rather take into account the entire season, including conference races.

That being said, winning a state title can take precedence. No. 1 Edwardsville capped off their impressive 37-win season with a 4A State Title. The Tigers of Edwardsville knocked off St. Charles North, 3-2 in an eight-inning thriller. Four teams that finished in the Top-10 of the final rankings, were preseason Top-10 teams, including Edwardsville, who was No. 7.

Below we take a look at the Top 5 teams in Illinois come season’s end.

+ No. 1: Edwardsville (37-5) - The Tigers, led by head coach Tim Funkhouser, finally captured their first State Title with him at the helm. The Tigers, who beat St. Charles North 3-2 (eight innings), won 37 games on the season, avenging their second-place finish in 2017. The Tigers had one of the deepest, most complete teams in the state. On the mound, the Tigers were led by senior’s Matthew Boyer (St. Louis commit), Dawson Taylor (John A. Logan JC), Grant Schaefer, Jonathon Yancik and junior Collin Salter. At the plate, Louisville commit, Drake Westcott made his presence felt in the playoffs, homering a number of times, despite rarely getting pitched too. Westcott finished the season with eight doubles, nine homeruns and 38 RBI. Senior’s OF Joe Copeland (.415 BA), 3B Max Ringering (.358 BA, 16 2B), SS Josh Ohl (.371 BA, 7 2B) and sophomore OF Hayden Moore (.391 BA, 12 2B, 5 3B, 4 HR) did most of the heavy lifting outside of Westcott. Throughout the season, Edwardsville played some of the toughest teams in the state: Mt. Carmel, Brother Rice, Neuqua Valley, Moline, Belleville West, Normal West, Glenwood, O’Fallon, Marist, Hampshire and St. Charles North. The Tigers have won over 25 games in every season since 2011 and there is no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

+ No. 2: St. Charles North (29-11) - The North Stars, led by head coach Todd Genke, finished runner-up in Class 4A, their best finish in school history. The North Stars were somewhat of a question mark heading into the season due to a number of key losses from last season’s 24-win club. However, like other top programs in the state, the North Stars are used to reloading with talent and having fresh faces step up and play a big role. This year was no different as they relied on a number of sophomores; SS/RHP Nick DeMarco, RHP Zach Kempe, INF/RHP Andrew Jimenez, Kevin White and Marco Torres, throughout the season. A freshman, INF Jayden Lobliner, actually saw his first varsity action in the state semi-final and made a few key defensive plays late in the game. On the mound, junior LHP Johnny Lambert and senior RHP John Hamer each had six wins heading into the state finals. Senior infielder Egon Hein led the team offensively, hitting .429 with 15 doubles and three home-runs. En-route to the state finals, St. Charles North did not give up more than two runs in any of the five games. Their toughest game of the playoffs arguably came in the first, a 3-2 win over Geneva. There should be plenty of excitement for the North Stars in 2020 as they return a number of key contributors from this year’s club.

+ No. 3: St. Rita (35-7) - The Mustangs, led by head coach John Nee, were the No. 1 team in the state for a majority of the latter part of the season. St. Rita ended with 35 wins, a third-place finish in 4A and won the Chicago Catholic League-Blue Division. The Mustangs were battle tested all season long and were one of the favorites to take home the 4A state title. Unfortunately a 6-4 loss to St. Charles North in the state semi’s ended the title hopes but does not diminish their tremendous overall season. The Mustangs had six pitchers log 24+ innings on the season, led by senior’s Diego Koval and Vic Aguillar. Offensively, the Mustangs were as deep as anyone in the state, with a number of quality choices at multiple positions on any given day. With that said, the following were mainstays in the lineup and carried the majority of the load throughout the season; SS Jalen Greer (.364 BA, 8 HR, 45 RBI), 2B Brendan Carrane, OF’s Matt Callahan, OF Gavin Mottl, 1B Chris McDevitt and C Luke Napleton. When looking at the Mustangs road to the playoffs, it was quite impressive as they shutout four of their five opponents. The tightest game was a 3-2 win over conference-foe Mt. Carmel in the Sectional Semi-Final.

+ No. 4: Montini (23-11) - The Broncos of Montini, the No. 3 seed in the St. Patrick Sectional, were one of the biggest surprises of the playoffs. The Broncos entered the postseason 16-11 before their impressive run. Led by head coach, Rich Janor, the Broncos shutout three of their opponents leading up to state. Once in Joliet, the Broncos were equally as impressive, knocking off Dixon 5-1 in the semi’s and then taking down perrenial power St. Laurence 6-3 en-route to hoisting the 3A state trophy. On the mound, junior RHP Michael Sclafani was the workhorse throughout the season going 6-4 with 72 strikeouts in 55 innings and sporting a 2.29 ERA. Sclafani twirled a complete game, allowing one run and striking out seven in the semi-final game and OF/LHP Michael Koszewski backed that performance up with a complete game of his own in the Championship. Offensively, the Broncos were led throughout the season by Sclafani and sophomore OF Antoine Harris (.405 BA, 5 2B, 4 3B, 29 R). The 3A State Title was the first baseball championship in Montini school history.

+ No. 5: St. Laurence (35-6) - The Vikings of St. Laurence were never ranked outside of the Top-5 all season long, finished second in the CCL-Blue and were the heavy favorites to take home the 3A state title. The Vikings, led by head coach, Pete Lotus, survived one of the toughest Sectionals in 3A, beating the likes of Lemont, Morris, Joliet Catholic. In the Super-Sectional they had to get by No. 15 De La Salle and one of the top junior’s in the state RHP Ben Hernandez. Once in Joliet, the Vikings cruised past Waterloo 8-2 but then fell 6-3 to Montini to finish runner-up in Class 3A. Throughout the season, junior’s LHP Chris Seropian (8-2, 62.1 IP, 2.47 ERA) and RHP Matt Zahora (8-0, 60 IP, 1.52 ERA) led the way on the mound. At the plate, the Vikings were led by potent middle-of-the-order bats C Matt McCormick and CIF Vytas Valincius. Entering the state finals, McCormick was hitting .414 with 49 RBI, 12 doubles, one triple and nine home runs, while Valincius was hitting .417 with 12 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 42 knocked in. This year’s runner-up Class 3A trophy was coach Lotus’ second state trophy (4A 3rd place in 2017).

FINAL TOP 10 

Click Here to View the Illinois Power 25 Final Team Rankings

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