With two full weeks of games behind us, our staff felt it was time to hit the refresh button on the Power 25. There was some movement throughout but the top-five remains intact. 

No. 1 St. Laurence (5-1), No. 2 Normal Community (4-1), No. 3 Libertyville (3-2-1) and No. 5 Brother Rice (3-3) have travelled, playing a number of teams outside of Illinois. A number of their losses have come to ranked teams in their respective states, many of whom have already played a double-digit number of games. 

No. 1 St. Laurence is 5-1 on the year and remains at the top of the Power 25. Their only loss was 6-4 to IMG Academy, the No. 2 ranked squad in Florida who sits at 16-3 on the year.

Two new teams entered the Power 25 for the first time and a number of teams made strong early impressions.

Read on below for a look at the notable action throughout the Power 25 from the first two weeks of gameplay.

Rising

No. 6 Lincoln-Way East (5-0): The Griffins remain perfect on the year and climb one spot; Their biggest win so far was a 4-0 shutout over then No. 6 Maine South. They have also earned wins over Lake Forest 4-0, Wilmington 12-4, Downers Grove North 2-0 and Yorkville 8-0. Their pitching has looked especially dominant to start the season.  

+ No. 7 Huntley (6-0): The Red Raiders are rolling, opening the year with wins over De Smet Jesuit (MO) 11-2 and Alton 9-2, then putting together a perfect 4-0 week this past week with victories over Fremd 8-7, Hononegah 8-3, Marian Central Catholic 10-0, and East Moline United 9-0. Huntley is one of just a handful of unbeaten teams inside the Power 25 and is making a strong case as a legitimate 4A contender. Their win over Alton was also noteworthy due to the fact they were facing one of the top 2028 arms in the Midwest, Anderson Kaufmann. They climb one spot.

+ No. 9 New Trier (2-1): The Trevians were arguably one of the biggest takeaways from the Kickoff Classic where they went 2-0 taking down McCracken County and Edwardsville. When it came to the eye-test they passed with flying colors and climbed two spots as a result. They have a number of quality arms, depth in their lineup and played quality defense. Their lone blemish so far this season was a 12-1 loss to Loyola, who because of that big win, propelled themselves into the Top-15 of the state. 

+ No. 10 McHenry (4-0): The Warriors are off to a perfect start, opening with a win over Warren 7-4 in week one and then going 3-0 this past week with wins over Crab Orchard 18-0, Woodlawn 13-0, and Johnston City 11-1. McHenry has been one of the more consistent programs in the state through two weeks and remains firmly entrenched in the Top 10. They will be tested today (Monday) with a big Top-10 matchup against No. 3 Libertyville, at Libertyville.

+ No. 11 Nazareth (5-0): The Roadrunners have been outscoring their opponents by a large margin to open the season (54-4) and climb up four spots as a result. Led by senior SS Landon Thome, Nazareth should once again be a team to beat in the ESCC. They have collected wins over Timothy Christian, Kenwoos, Ridgewood, Taft and Limestone so far to kick off the season. 

+ No. 12 Homewood-Flossmoor (5-0): H-F made one of the bigger jumps in the rankings so far, climbing from No. 25 to No. 12. A big reason is obviously an undefeated start but it was highlighted by a 7-6 win over No. 5 Mount Carmel at Ozinga Field. To open the season they took down Whitney Young 5-0 and Montini Catholic 8-7. This past week they went 3-0 with victories over St. Augustine 6-2, Jones 10-2, and the aforementioned Mount Carmel win. The Vikings are one of the hottest teams to start the season.

+ No. 15 Marquette (6-0): Marquette moves up one spot after a perfect 6-0 start. They opened the year with wins over Pittsfield 17-1, North Boone 17-0, and Antioch 14-0, then this past week went 3-0 with victories over Newark 21-1, Midland 12-0, and Rochelle 17-5. When it comes to 2A, nobody is looking stronger on paper than the Crusaders.

+ No. 16 St. Joseph-Ogden (6-1): The Spartans are another 2A squad moving up one spot. impressive start to the year. They lost to Columbia and 2028 RHP Connor Basinski to start the season and open the Kickoff Classic but they have gone undefeated since. Their most impressive win on paper so far was a 7-3 victory over No. 21 Sacred Heart-Griffin. They also have wins over Fairfield, Bradley-Bourbonnais, Mount Pulaski, St. Anthony and Oswego East.  

+ No. 22 Oak Park-River Forest (6-2): The Huskies had an impressive opening two weeks and were one of the harder teams to slot. They end up climbing one spot with an argument to be made for a further climb. They have two power 25 wins in the state of Illinois; 8-6 over No. 25 Lockport and 4-1 over No. 14 Edwardsville. They also took down McCracken County 7-5, one of the better teams in Kentucky. Their two losses also came to power 25 squads No. 18 O’Fallon 9-8 and No. 21 Sacred Heart-Griffin 5-1. Regardless they have been tested to start the season and have a number of quality wins under their belt.

Falling

No. 14 Edwardsville (3-3): The Tigers had an up-and-down start to the season while playing stiff competition, as they always do. They drop two spots in the update and two of their three losses so far have come to ranked opponents in Illinois; No. 9 New Trier 7-3 and No. 22 Oak Park-River Forest 4-1. Their biggest win at this point was a 6-4 victory over Francis Howell, the No. 1 ranked team in Missouri in their preseason Power 25 (34-4 in 2025). The Tigers are led by strong pitching but their bats have been fairly quiet so far to start the season. 

No. 17 Maine South (2-4): The Hawks find themselves sliding after a difficult stretch with four of their six games coming against out of state teams. In doing so, it makes our job of evaluating them slightly tougher. However, we were able to get our own eyes on them this past Saturday in a Power 25 matchup against No. 6 Lincoln-Way East. They ended up getting shut-out 4-0 but have plenty of pieces on the roster to like. They have wins over Fewick 5-1 and Thompson 13-6 but we will be watching the Hawks closely as we are still not sure if their current record is a strong indication of how they should be viewed. Down 11 spots in this update.

No. 23 Lane Tech (2-4): Lane is yet another squad sliding down the rankings after a 2-4 start which included a number of out of state games against quality competition. The two games they have played in Illinois were two losses to teams in the Top-five of our Power 25; No. 3 Libertyville 6-4 and No. 5 Mount Carmel 12-2. Lane Tech is back home now and will immediately get a test against No. 13 Loyola, the highest newcomer in our rankings, on Monday, March 30th. 

No. 25 Lockport (2-4): The Porters are another 2-4 squad barely hanging into the Power 25 after an up and down start which included two losses this week to Power 25 teams in Illinois; No. 23 OPRF 8-6 and No. 5 Mount Carmel 4-2. Their two wins came against Tennessee high schools with one of their other losses coming to the No. 1 team in Mississippi; Magnolia Heights 9-3. Time will tell with the Porters but there is plenty of talent on that roster. 

New to the Power 25

No. 13 Loyola (3-0): One of the toughest parts of the early season updates to the Power 25 is the small sample size and the difference in number of games some teams have played to open the season. The Ramblers have made the most of their small three-game sample size with their biggest statement coming in a 12-1 win over top-10 New Trier. They also took down Neuqua Valley 4-3 and Simeon 14-2. They were just left off the power 25 in the preseason but a team we had high on our radar. A quick 3-0 start with a big win has propelled them into the Top-15. 

No. 24 Mascoutah (5-0): The Indians were another squad we were paying close attention to at the start of the year and another squad that was just missing the cut of our Preseason Power 25. We knew they had some arms but their offense has been standing out so far as well in their undefeated 5-0 start to the season. They have put up 19, 11, 14 and 15 runs in four of their five wins so far. Led by Darren Klein and Nolan Lebert, the emergence of freshman Brandon Klein gives them three high-level arms that should be able to give them a chance in any game. Strong early statement for the Metro East squad. 

Dropped Out

+ Barrington 
+ Father McGivney

Just Missed the Cut (Listed Alphabetically)

+ Benet (1-0)
+ East Peoria (4-0)
+ Geneva (4-1)
+ Jacobs (3-0)
+ Lake Zurich (4-1)
+ Lincoln-Way West (3-0)
+ Lyons Township (5-0)
+ Mahomet Seymour (6-0)
+ Minooka (5-0)
+ Normal University (7-1)
+ Stevenson (6-1)
+ Teutopolis (4-1)
+ York (2-0)

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