Updated Illinois Power 25 Team Rankings

April 2, 2018
By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

We purposely waited two weeks to release our initial Power 25 Team Rankings due to the finicky spring weather and wanting to allow more teams to get games under their belts. It’s still really early, and thus hard to say an undefeated team is truly better than a team with one or two losses that has played a quality schedule. The good thing about several of our teams in the Power 25 is that most of the debates will be settled on the field at some point this spring.

CLIMBING

+ Neuqua - The preseason No. 2, is the new No. 1 team in Illinois, after a 5-0 start to the season. The Wildcats offense has scored 56 runs in the five wins so far this season.

+ O’Fallon - The Panthers have climbed to No. 2 in the state after an impressive 9-0 start to the year that has included wins over No. 8 Brother Rice and Normal U-High who is currently 8-1. The Panther pitching staff has already twirled three shutouts on the young season.

+ St. Laurence - The Vikings climbed up six spots after opening the season 8-0. They dominated their competition on their Arizona spring trip and have defeated the likes of Simeon, Joliet West and Niles North back home.

+ Glenwood - The Titans are yet another team off to an 8-0 start to the season. Glenwood has been involved in a number of including consecutive one-run wins over Sacred Heart-Griffin.

+ Andrew - The Preseason No. 25 team in the state has jumped 12 spots up to No. 13 in the state after a 6-0 start to the spring. Some of the more notable wins include a 3-2 victory over rival No. 17 Sandburg, 10-1 win over Oak Forest and a 12-2 win over Willowbrook.

SINKING

+ Sandburg - Ranked No. 9 in our preseason post, the Eagles (3-2) have struggled against the two fellow ranked opponents they’ve played. With losses to No. 25 Andrew (by the score of 3-2) and No. 11 Brother Rice (9-1), Sandburg tumbles a bit in this week’s update. They did, however, win their three games so far by a combined score of 34-7, so they have plenty of time and talent to right the ship.

+ Libertyville - The Wildcats are 5-3 overall in 2018 after they’re excursion to Arizona that saw them go 2-2. They hold notable wins against Lake View and Carmel Catholic but lost to Fenwick. Libertyville recorded large margins of victory in their five wins but failed to score more than three runs in each of their three losses. They’ll need to find more consistency at the plate to move back up this list.

+ Providence Catholic - The Celtics have a problem closing games, unfortunately. Minooka and Joliet Catholic, for example, each produced wild, late-inning comebacks to push them past the former No. 5 rank. They drop 17 spots after a 3-4 start to the season.

+ Minooka - Started the year 4-2. Lost to Joliet West 11-2 and Morris 12-7. Not all is bad for Indians as they have quality wins over No. 22 Providence Catholic and Waubonsie. They’ll need to get some more steadiness from their pitching staff, though, considering they allowed double-digit scores to unranked opponents in their two losses thus far.

NEW TO THE TOP 25

+ No. 14 Lockport - The Porters are currently 6-0 and are coming off a WJOL championship, which featured a number of teams in the Power 25, this past weekend. Lockport has wins over Lemont, Plainfield Central, Lincoln-Way West, Joliet West and others.

+ No. 16 Moline - The Maroons have arguably the two most impressive wins over teams from Illinois so far this spring. At the Metro East Kickoff Classic Moline took down Preseason No. 1 Joliet Catholic 3-1 and then this past Friday they knocked off Preseason No. 8 Edwardsville, 4-1. Moline currently sits at 6-1.