Four programs that have won four state championships and made 10 state tournament appearances between them since 2015 headline the inaugural King of the Valley Illinois Valley Baseball Tournament to be held Friday and Saturday in Peru.

Ottawa Marquette, a two-time defending state champion with three state titles since 2019 along with a third-place finish, will be joined in the six-team field by Hall, the 2018 2A state champion, Sterling Newman, which has made three straight state tournament appearances, two in 1A and the last in 2A, and St Bede, a fourth-place state finisher in 1A in 2015.

Throw in Putnam County, which won three state trophies in a 15-year stretch from 1998-2013, and an improving young Princeton squad, which had won four of six games, and the inaugural Illinois Valley Tournament promises to be a showcase of the area’s top talent on the diamond.

“This can be challenging this time of year when schools are looking to make up conference games, but the idea behind a ‘king of the area’ is a good one,“ St. Bede coach Bill Booker said. ”This area is so rich in baseball talent. Getting some of the other area schools involved will only make it better, too. I believe that will happen as years go by."

“I don’t know where we will be with pitchers available, but I think it’s a good idea for the area,“ Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said.

Hall coach Tom Keegan, who led his Red Devils to the 2018 2A state crown, said the tournament will be a nice postseason tuneup.

“The nice thing is it just kind of gives you that postseason feel before you actually head into your postseason,” Keegan said. “There’s some familiarity in the field for sure. Depending on how the pairings shake up, you could play someone for the third time. It will be to everybody’s advantage to play before the postseason.”

Marquette, which won its first 21 games before falling to St. Bede 6-1 on April 30, stands 26-1. The Crusaders beat the Bruins by that same 6-1 score on April 28.

The Bruins improved to 18-8 with a 4-1 win over Putnam County (15-10) on Monday. The Bruins and Panthers will meet again Tuesday in Granville.

The Red Devils (19-8-1) have won nine straight and 12 of their last 14 since April 14, including a sweep of Princeton (7-10). Hall’s only losses in that stretch came back-to-back to Newman.

The Comets (22-1) have won 16 straight after Monday’s 10-0 win over Amboy, including Three Rivers East sweeps over Hall and Princeton.

Booker said it all might come down to who has the deepest pitching staff after a full week of games.

The six teams will be divided into two pools with the National Pool to play at Washington Park’s JA Happ Field and the American Pool at Schweickert Stadium in Peru. Tournament pairings will not be determined until the IHSA postseason seeds are announced on Wednesday to make for optimal pool matchups.

Game times will be at 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday with the pool winners to play for the championship at noon Saturday at Schweickert Stadium.