The ScoutConnect staff is once again updating our IHSA ‘Small School’ – 1A & 2A – team rankings with the fifth week of Illinois high school baseball season under our belt. 

As a reminder, teams taken into consideration are those that fall into our ‘Coverage Map’, which includes all of Southern Illinois, the Metro East area, Springfield, and up as high as Mt. Zion. This does not mean that our staff won’t provide coverage to all areas of the state, as well as Missouri, but for team rankings purposes, we will stick to all teams in 1A and 2A that fall underneath the Mt. Zion line.

We’ve detailed some movement in our top-10 below, highlighting a few teams on the rise, one team that makes their season debut, and a few teams that are playing well, though on the outside looking in.

THE TOP 10…

+ The top spot belongs to Father McGivney (16-2) until further notice, and it has basically been a copy and paste for each of the past five weeks. They only played two games this past week, but they scored 30 runs and gave up three. The Griffins haven’t lost since March 21st and they have not lost to a team in Illinois all season. 

+ Sacred-Heart Griffin (14-3) and Teutopolis (14-1) stay put at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively. The Cyclones did drop a tight 3-2 contest on Wednesday of last week to Normal U-High, with wins over MacArthur (16-0) and Springfield Southeast (5-4). The Wooden Shoes handled last week’s opponents comfortably, defeating Robinson (11-0) and Dieterich (17-2). 

+ Nashville (14-0) and Pleasant Plains (12-3) are at No. 4 and No. 5 in this update. The Hornets are up two spots, from sixth, and are the only undefeated team on our rankings. They went 3-0 this past week, comfortably defeating Pinckneyville (12-1) and Carlyle (9-2) before walking off a tough Du Quoin club in the bottom of the 10th for a 2-1 win. Pleasant Plains sticks at fifth after a 2-1 week, beating Springfield Southeast (15-0) and Porta (10-0) with a 4-3 walk-off loss to Maroa-Forsyth. 

+ St. Anthony (9-5) is down to sixth this time around after dropping both of their games last week. They lost to Waltonville (4-0) at the hands of star RHP Brandon Menser (2025; Cincinnati) and were walked off by a tough Marion club in extra innings, dropping that game 5-4. 

+ We do have a new team making their season debut, and rather aggressively, as Zeigler-Royalton (17-2) cracks this list at seventh overall. The Tornadoes had been knocking on the door for the past few weeks, having won eight straight games, with four wins last week over Elverado (16-1), Christ Our Rock (2-0), Du Quoin (5-1), and Hamilton County (8-7). LHP Connor DeWeerdt (2025; Rend Lake JC) has been absolutely stellar on the mound, striking out 56 with just six walks in 32 ⅓ innings of work with a 0.65 ERA. 

+ Routt Catholic (9-4), Roxana (13-4-1), and Breese Central (10-5) round out the final three spots in our top-10. The Rockets rallied to beat Glenwood in the bottom of the seventh, walking off the Titans, and they also beat Greenfield/Northwestern (4-0) before ending their week with a 5-1 loss to Carrollton. The Shells split their conference series with Columbia (7-1 L, 2-1 W), beat Springfield (7-6), and ended the week with a loss to Civic Memorial (6-3). The Cougars split their conference set against Freeburg (3-0 L, 8-3 W) with a loss to New Athens (2-0) on Friday. 

+ Carterville (9-6) drops out in this update. The Lions have been scuffling a bit, losing four of their last five games. This past week, they beat Pinckneyville (11-1) and lost to Herrin (5-4) in extra-innings. 

NEXT UP…

+ North Clay (12-4): Effingham handed North Clay their first loss since March 24th this past week, routing the Cardinals 12-2. North Clay responded quickly, however, beating Woodlawn 12-0, and a loss to a tough 3A opponent isn’t going to sway us off this club. They’re really talented, and have an important week on the horizon, with four games coming up. 

+ Altamont (10-2): The Indians won both of their games last week and threw two shutouts, with wins over Neoga (8-0) and Cumberland (8-0). RHP Kade Milleville (2026) has walked one batter in 31 ⅔ innings with a 0.22 ERA and 53 strikeouts. CIF Keegan Schultz (2025; Kaskaskia JC) has a .472 batting average and 1.374 OPS to lead the Indians. 

+ Columbia (7-7): Columbia continues to be a team we’re watching closely, as the Eagles went 3-2 on the week with victories over Roxana (7-1), Wesclin (14-4), and they beat ranked Belleville East 2-0 on Saturday. The Eagles would have been on the doorstep of our rankings, but they did drop two games to Red Bud (10-8) and a conference game to Roxana (2-1). 

+ Du Quoin (10-10): Record aside, the Indians aren’t a team people will want to match up with come playoff time, as they’ve certainly challenged themselves on the regular throughout this spring. Their two losses this week came to Nashville (2-1) and Zeigler-Royalton (10-1), two teams that find themselves in our rankings above. Du Quoin beat Anna-Jonesboro (6-1) to start last week and finished with a victory over Benton (17-1). 

+ Arcola (9-0): The Purple Riders improved to 9-0 on the season with two wins last week, defeating Heritage (16-5) and Argenta-Oreana (12-2). Star senior RHP/OF Tanner Thomas (2025; Louisville) has 33 strikeouts to zero walks and zero runs allowed in 14 innings pitched, and he’s slashing .600/.649/.967 in 30 at-bats. 

Author: Diego