On Saturday, one of the hottest teams in the state, the No. 8 Warren Blue Devils, hosted McHenry in a non-conference matchup. The Blue Devils used a three-run third inning to pull ahead from McHenry, en-route to a 5-1 win.

The game was tied at one, in the bottom of the third inning, when Warren (22-2-1) pulled away for good with a three-run frame. After consecutive fly balls were misplayed to lead off the inning, senior Milwaukee Area Tech commit, Bradley Vondruska, doubled over the right-fielders head, scoring one run and putting runners on second and third. That’s when sophomore SS Brian Rapanan, delivered arguably the biggest hit of the game, a two-run double, hit deep over the left-fielders head. The double extended the lead to 4-1 at the time (video below). 

IL: @WTHSDevils gets three in the B3 to open up a 4-1 lead over @mchenrybaseball. 2021 SS Brian Rapanan w/ a 2-run double in the frame pic.twitter.com/5shQwrsrat

— PBR Illinois (@PBRIllinois) May 4, 2019

Warren would go ahead and tack on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior Mikey Kocen doubled off the left-field wall to lead off the inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly to center by junior Nathan Rentas.

Three Warren arms; Dru Jasnoch, Vondruska and Rapanan combined to three hit McHenry. Jasnoch went three innings, two hits, one run, none earned, struck out one and walked one. Vondruska went two innings without allowing a hit, struck out four and walked one. Rapanan also struck out four, walked one and gave up one hit.

McHenry (15-7) scored their lone run of the game in the top of the first inning. Junior Nolan Shannon lined a one-out single to left, eventually advanced to third on a pickoff throw to second base that got away and later scored on a Jake Evans sacrifice fly to center field. Junior left-handed pitcher Jacob McLean threw two innings of scoreless baseball out of the bullpen for McHenry. McLean gave up one hit, one walk and struck out one.

Brandon Houtz went 2-for-3 with two RBI, a walk and a run scored for Warren. The Blue Devils are now 19-0-1 in their last 20 games.

For more in-depth notes from this game - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog.

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