With another week of the Illinois’ high school baseball season behind us, it’s time for our second update to our ‘Large School’ rankings. 

At ScoutConnect, we break our IHSA rankings into two different categories, grouping the 3A and 4A into a ‘Large’ school bucket, while doing the same for the 1A and 2A programs as ‘Small’ schools.

For a look at last week’s rankings, click HERE. 

It’s important to note that these rankings do not cover the entire state. Our coverage map extends from Peoria on down, and only teams that fall underneath the Peoria line on the state map will be included within our rankings all season long. It’s also important to note that these are just initial rankings, and they will fluctuate throughout as the season rolls on and gameplay starts. 

With that being said, continue reading below to learn more about movement inside our top-15, some key upcoming matchups, and more. 

AT THE TOP…

+ The top three spots in our rankings remain the same, with No. 1 Normal Community (8-1), No. 2 O’Fallon (11-4), and No. 3 Triad (9-2) all going undefeated on the week. 

+ Bumping up one spot from last week is Normal U-High (12-1), as the Pioneers now sit at No. 4 after another impressive week. They’ve won six straight games, picking up victories over Springfield Southeast (12-2), Jacksonville (17-1), and an impressive extra-inning win against Chicago private school powerhouse Joliet Catholic (7-6) on Saturday. 

+ Sacred-Heart Griffin (11-3) rounds out our top five, bumping down one spot after a 2-1 week. The Cyclones took down Routt Catholic (6-1) and Collinsville (7-1) later in the week after dropping a game to Rochester (3-2) to start things off. 

MOVING UP…

+ Dunlap (11-3) ticks up a spot in this update, now at No. 6 after an undefeated week. The Eagles have won 10 straight games, dating back to March 25th, and they’ve allowed three or less runs in all but one game in that span. Their schedule gets plenty tough over the next two weeks, with conference sets against Limestone and East Peoria on the horizon. 

+ Towards the bottom of our rankings, Morton (9-3) climbs up a spot, now at No. 13 this week. The Potters swept their week, taking both conference games against Canton (8-1, 10-0), with wins over LaSalle Peru (7-2) and Galesburg (13-1) towards the week’s end. Morton enters the toughest stretch of their season to date this week, drawing Metamora twice with a matchup against No. 1 Normal Community sandwiched between. 

STAYING PUT…

Five teams in the middle of our rankings stayed in the same spot from this past week’s update:

+ No. 8 Mascoutah (11-0): The Indians can’t stop winning, sweeping their week again to keep their undefeated season alive. They took down Belleville West (3-2) on Monday in a tight contest, before rolling through the St. Louis Patriots (10-0), Gibault Catholic (19-2), and Murphysboro (16-0). Once again, Mascoutah looks like one of the top 3A teams in our coverage area. 

+ No. 9 Edwardsville (6-6): A conference sweep of Alton (9-2, 11-3) brought the Tigers back to even on the year. Edwardsville enters arguably their most important week of the season, with a massive conference set against No. 2 O’Fallon kicking off on Tuesday. 

+ No. 10 Glenwood (10-2): Don’t look now, but the Titans are doing what they always do, which is win. Since they fell to No. 3 Triad on March 27th, Glenwood has won eight straight games, with four of those coming this past week. They beat Jacksonville (9-2) and MacArthur (11-1) in the early going, book-ending things with a ranked win over East Peoria (2-0) and Quincy Notre Dame (10-0). 

+ No. 11 East Peoria (8-4): The Raiders went 2-1 this past week, sweeping their conference series with a quality Limestone (6-1, 11-2) club, before ending things off with a loss to No. 10 Glenwood (3-0). 

+ No. 12 Mahomet-Seymour (10-2): Mahomet-Seymour went 3-1 this past week, beating St. Anthony 9-5 on Monday before splitting their conference set with Taylorville (8-0 L, 15-0 W), and finishing things off with a 17-1 win over Bloomington Central Catholic. 

DROPPING DOWN…

+ Waterloo (8-2) falls one spot, sitting at No. 7 after a 3-1 week. The Bulldogs dropped their opening act to Freeburg (5-3), one of the top 2A teams in the state, but rebounded nicely, beating Valmeyer (16-0) and Gibault Catholic (14-3, 9-4) handedly. Waterloo starts conference play this week against a strong Civic Memorial club. 

+ Mt. Zion (7-3) is down a spot, now at No. 14 in this update. The Braves lost to St. Anthony (4-0), but won their conference series over Mattoon (3-0, 5-2) with a 10-0 win against MacArthur mixed in as well. 

+ Metamora (9-3) falls out of the rankings after entering last week. The Redbirds split a conference series against Washington (6-1 W, 6-4 L) with losses to Normal West (9-1) and Geneseo (10-3) this coming week. 

WELCOME…

+ Washington (8-5) makes their debut on our rankings this week, occupying the 15th and final spot in this update. As we’ve referenced before, Washington’s been on the cusp before, and while their record doesn’t necessarily stand out, they’ve played a fairly tough schedule from start to finish. On the year, the Panthers have victories against Mt. Zion (3-2) and Mt. Vernon (4-1). This past week, Washington split with Metamora (6-4 W, 6-1 L), and they also picked up wins against Morris (4-2) as well as Ottawa (9-3). 

JUST MISSED…

+ Had we ranked 16 teams, Marion (10-4) would have slid right into that spot, as the Wildcats are the first team out in this week’s update. They went 2-1 this week, splitting their conference series with Mt. Vernon (12-2 W, 5-1 L) while also taking down West Frankfort (9-4). Marion is routinely one of the top teams in southern Illinois and we wouldn’t be shocked to see them inside our top 15 in the coming weeks.