The ScoutConnect staff is once again updating our IHSA ‘Large School’ – 3A & 4A – team rankings with the eighth week of Illinois high school baseball season under our belt.
We don’t have any new teams jumping into the rankings this time around, but there is some shuffling inside our top-10. Additionally, we’ve also highlighted five teams that are on the outside looking in, but are playing well with the postseason approaching.
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 3A and 4A that fall underneath the Mt. Zion line.
AT THE TOP…
The top three teams in this update maintain their standing from last week’s update:
+ Triad (22-4): The Knights took their first in-state loss this past week, as they split a Mississippi Valley Conference set with No. 3 Mascoutah, beating the Indians 1-0 on the road but falling to them 10-8 at home. They turned around and picked up a ranked win over O’Fallon on Saturday in extra-innings, however, to finish the week 2-1.
+ Edwardsville (17-8): The Tigers played five games and finished 3-2 this week. They split their Southwestern Conference series with ranked Belleville West, taking a 10-3 victory over the Maroons on the road, but dropping an extra-innings contest at home 2-1. They hosted their 17th annual Tigers’ classic this weekend and won two of their three games, beating Glenwood (11-3) and Highland (7-5) before falling to ‘Small School’ ranked Teutopolis (5-4) for the second year in a row.
+ Mascoutah (15-7): Beating No. 1 Triad on the road was enough to salvage the Indians’ top three spot on these rankings. The Indians would lose 1-0 at home to the Knights and they also fell to Gibault Catholic on Saturday 4-3.
THE REST…
+ There’s a new No. 4 this week, as Mt. Zion (17-5) climbs up three spots to the fourth spot on our board. The Braves have won four in a row, and six of their last seven, with three victories this past week. They beat a quality Tolono Unity squad 9-6 to start the week and finished things off with a conference sweep of Charleston (12-5, 6-0) on Saturday. Mt. Zion has a tough week ahead of them, as they’ll travel to St. Joseph-Ogden on Wednesday and have a huge conference series with Mahomet-Seymour this upcoming Saturday.
+ Glenwood (14-6) stays put in the fifth spot after a 3-2 week. The Titans won their first two games of the week, defeating Springfield Southeast (14-0) and ‘Small School’ ranked Sacred-Heart Griffin (7-3). They went down to Edwardsville for the Tigers’ Classic and dropped their first two games to Edwardsville (11-3) and Teutopolis (2-1) before walking off Highland 6-5.
+ O’Fallon (18-8) holds onto the sixth spot after also going 3-2 this past week. They swept their Southwestern Conference set with East St. Louis (15-0, 11-1) to start the week before hosting one of Missouri’s top teams in Vianney and falling to the Griffins. They turned around and beat a quality Breese Central club 4-3 on Friday before losing in extra-innings to No. 1 Triad on Saturday.
+ Belleville East (18-10) falls from No. 4 to No. 7 after an 0-3 week, while Belleville West (14-8) climbs up one spot to No. 8 after a strong week. The Lancers lost to Missouri ranked SLUH 1-0 on Monday, and dropped their other two games to Breese Central (6-2) and St. Anthony (7-4). The Maroons split their series with Edwardsville, beating the Tigers 2-1 on the road with a 10-3 home loss. They were also beating our No. 1 ‘Small School’ team in Father McGivney 4-1 in the fifth inning before the game was called due to inclement weather.
+ Alton (15-11) and Rochester (18-7) round out the final two spots on our list. The Redbirds went 2-1 on the week, splitting their conference series with Collinsville (4-3 L, 2-0 W) and picking up a non-conference win over Gibault Catholic (2-0) on Monday. Rochester went 3-0 on the week, beating Olympia (11-0), MacArthur (18-3), and Washington (8-5).
NEXT UP…
+ Marion (17-6): The Wildcats bounced back nicely the week after falling out of our rankings, winning all three of their games. They swept a conference series with Carbondale (7-2, 10-0) and also beat Benton 16-4 in between. Marion figures to be one of the top seeds in their sub-sectional when the IHSA 3A/4A brackets are released.
+ Effingham (17-7): Effingham played five games this past week, winning three of them and dropping two. They split both of their conference series with Charleston (9-8 W, 5-4 L) and Taylorville (6-2 W, 2-1 L), beating Flora 12-5 on Friday.
+ Waterloo (15-8): Waterloo had another strong showing, finishing this week with a 3-1 record. They split their conference series with Jerseyville (10-2 W, 2-1 L) and took two games against a pair of quality ‘Small School’ teams in Du Quoin (7-2) and Carterville (8-2).
+ Highland (14-11): The Bulldogs are always going to be dangerous, as they play their brand of baseball that’s engineered to put pressure on their opposition. Matching that are their two dynamic arms in Braxdon Decker (2025; Eastern Illinois) and Chase Knebel (2025; SWIC), who both threw shutouts in their conference sweep of Civic Memorial (8-0 W, 4-0 W) this past week. They also picked up a win over Teutopolis (6-3) with losses to Nashville (9-3), Edwardsville (7-5), and Glenwood (6-5).
+ Quincy (12-14): Quincy doesn’t have the gaudiest record, but the Blue Devils have won three straight games, including a big win over rival Quincy Notre Dame (10-0) this past week. They also won a 4-3 conference game over Sterling and beat Seymour 11-0.
