Today marks the fourth update to the Power 25 on the season after another loaded week of games. The top team in the state remains Nazareth, who now sits at 17-0 on the season. The Roadrunners have now won 34 games in a row, dating back to the 2022 season where they went on a 17-game winning streak to finish out the season and capture the 3A State Championship. Nazareth swept a three-game ESCC series against St. Patrick this past week, out-scoring them 28-5. 

The Celtics of Providence Catholic remain at No. 2 in the state, sitting at 15-2 overall. The Celtics are coming off a 3-1 week where they split a two-game set with CCL-Blue opponent St. Rita. They also knocked off Loyola 4-1 and St. Patrick 12-2.

Check out the rest of the movement in the Power 25 below. 

CLIMBING

+ No. 3 Lincoln-Way West (15-4): The Warriors continue to impress and find themselves up two spots to No. 3, their highest spot in the Power 25 so far this season. The Warriors went 4-0 on the week with two wins over No. 25 Bradley-Bourbonnais, a win over Oak Forest and Homewood-Flossmoor. This week ahead should be one of the biggest of the season as they have three games on the schedule, all coming against Power 25 teams.

+ No. 4 Evanston (17-2): The Wildkits have made an extremely impressive climb up the Power 25 over the last couple of weeks thanks to their impressive play. Their only loss in the state of Illinois came against Hersey (6-4) in the first game of the season. They have not lost to an Illinois team since and are coming off a yet another perfect week, this time going 3-0. On the week, the Wildkits put together an impressive two-game sweep of No. 10 New Trier (7-5 & 6-0) and also took down Maine West 10-3. Evanston has firmly established themselves as a team to beat in Class 4A.

+ No. 12 St. Rita (16-4): The Mustangs are another team trending in the right direction and propelling up the Power 25 board as a result. St. Rita is 9-1 in their last 10 games and they climb up six spots after a 4-1 week. The lone loss on the week (and the last 10 games) was a 10-2 loss to No. 2 Providence. They also knocked off Providence 7-1 and took down Mount Carmel 8-5, Fenwick 6-2 and Leo 10-2. Despite missing out on one of their top bats the entire season, the Mustangs are rolling as they continue to head into the heart of Chicago Catholic League play.

+ No. 15 St. Charles East (12-1): The Saints have been on a tear since an 8-4 loss to Naperville Central on April 6th. Since then they have gone undefeated (9-0) with two three-game conference sweeps of Lake Park (4-3, 6-3, 8-7) and Glenbard North (4-3, 6-2, 8-4). In between they have wins over Barrington 5-4, Plainfield South 15-9 and conference-foe Wheaton Warrenville South 17-6. St. Charles East has been led, most recently by INF Jake Zitella (Illinois commit), who won the most recent Player of the Week award after going 11-for-15 with four home runs, two doubles, 10 RBIs and seven runs scored - also boasting a 1.667 slugging % and a 2.373 OPS. Looking ahead at this week, they will strive to stay perfect in conference with two games against Wheaton Warrenville South and two more against Geneva at the end of the week.

+ No. 16 Lyons Township (10-3): The Lions continue to play good baseball and climb three spots after a 2-0 week. On the week, the Lions knocked off Marian Catholic 4-3 and Hinsdale Central 4-1. The only main hiccup on the year so far for Lyons was losing 2-of-3 to conference opponent No. 8 Downers Grove North. Outside of that they have been tough to take down, with their only other loss coming to Neuqua 5-4. It should be a busy week ahead for the Lions as they have five games on the schedule, one against No. 18 Lockport on Friday evening.

SINKING

+ No. 6 St. Laurence (14-5): The Vikings are down three spots to No. 6 in the Power 25. It is not fair to say they are “sinking” but when you sit this high on the list, every loss is magnified and they went 2-1 on the week after going 3-1 the week before. This past week a 5-4 loss to Marist was the lone blemish as they took care of Marmion 13-1 and St. Ignatius 9-0. The Vikings are by all means, still one of the top teams in the state and can match up with anyone when RHP DJ Helwig Jr. (Notre Dame) or when LHP Joe Olson (Louisville) has the ball. This looks to be a huge week ahead as they are scheduled to play five games on the week with two of them coming against CCL foe No. 2 Providence Catholic.

+ No. 10 New Trier (12-3): The Trevians are down four spots after a 2-2 week. On the week they were handed two tough losses against No. 4 Evanston (6-0 & 7-5) but they also had two big wins over Stevenson 11-1 and Maine East 15-0. New Trier is one of the more complete teams we have seen on the year, with tough outs up-and-down the lineup, to go along with above-average defense across the board. They will be busy once again this week with five games on the schedule, 

+ No. 18 Lockport (11-6): The Porters have slowly dripped down the Power 25 board over the last couple of weeks and are down four more spots to No. 18 after a 2-1 week. They have one of the toughest strength of schedules of anyone in the Power 25 with four of their overall losses coming against teams that were in the Power 25 at the time. THis past week they split a two-game set with No. 11 Lincoln-Way East and also knocked off Plainfield East 20-5. The Porters are battle tested and like a number of teams mentioned above will have another busy week with four games scheduled, with No. 16 Lyons Township on Friday. 

+ No. 23 Minooka (13-4-1): Falling seven spots, Minooka comes in this week at No. 23 after a 1-2 week. Two tough losses to Lincoln-Way East 14-4 and Oswego 10-0 put a damper on the week, but they did bounce back with a 7-6 win over Oswego. Minooka will have a chance to correct their course this week with three games scheduled against Oswego East. 

+ No. 25 Bradley-Bourbonnais (10-4): Bradley-Bourbonnais slips to No. 25 after a 1-2 week. Their lone win came against Bishop McNamara by the score of 6-2; while their losses came against now No. 3 Lincoln-Way West 9-3 & 4-3. The Boilermakers will have a chance to get right back on track with four games scheduled for this week. 

NEW TO THE TOP 25

+ No. 17 Cary-Grove (15-3): Cary Grove enters the Power 25 for the first time after they went a perfect 3-0 on the week to improve to 15-3, seeing wins over Prairie Ridge 9-6 and McHenry 11-10 & 3-0. The Trojans have a true ace on the mound in RHP Ethan Dorchies (2024, Illinois-Chicago), who can run his fastball into the low 90s to pair with well above-average off-speed. The Trojans have a +40 run differential on the year, and this number could continue to trend upwards as the bats continue to heat up, averaging about seven runs per game up to this point. 

+ No. 19 Quincy Notre Dame (17-1): Making their Power 25 Debut, Quincy Notre Dame enters after starting the year at an impressive 17-1 clip. Currently on a 14 game winning streak, the lone loss of the season came against a talented Hersey back on March 27th. The Raiders played three games this past week and outscored opponents 30-5, which has been a recurring theme all year as they hold a +173 run differential.

+ No. 20 Grayslake Central (13-3): Making a resurgence back in the Power 25, the Rams have been on a tear as of late; currently on an eight game win streak where they have outscored opponents 70-11. We knew pitching would be a strength for the Rams as they return 200 innings from last year's rotation, headlined by Chris Rogers (2023; Lindenwood), Will Schufreider (2023; College of Lake County) and Colin Kornit (2023); but the offensive influx has been a pleasant surprise. If the bats can stay hot, look out for the Rams come playoff time. 

DROPPED OUT

+ Naperville Central (10-7)
+ Mundelein (8-5)
+ DePaul College Prep (11-6)

JUST MISSED THE CUT

+ Glenwood (12-1)
+ Kenwood (14-2)
+ Harrisburg (20-2-1)
+ St. Charles North (12-3-1)
+ Plainfield Central (16-5)
+ Hersey (12-4)
+ St. Joseph-Ogden (18-4)
+ Champaign Central (12-3)
+ Routt Catholic (19-1)
+ O’Fallon (13-4)
+ Mascoutah (14-3-1)
+ Glenbrook North (12-4)
+ Moline (17-5)
+ Nashville (16-2)

UPDATED TOP 10

+ CLICK HERE to view entire Power 25 Team Rankings

2023 SEASON

+ Scout Blog

+ Daily Roundup

+ Player of the Week

+ Diamond Notes

RELATED CONTENT