McHenry ready for another adrenaline rush

He may be a varsity veteran who has experience playing in a minor league ballpark, but McHenry sophomore Kaden Wasniewski still felt the adrenaline rush of postseason baseball Monday night.

Note the righty’s fastball touching what he said was 96 mph in warmups.

Wasniewski and his teammates returned to Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva, where the Warriors lost to York in the Class 4A Kane County Cougars Supersectional last year. This time, McHenry twice rallied to beat South Elgin 8-6 in the supersectional and advance to state for only the second time.

Wasniewski hadn’t pitched in a game in more than six weeks because of discomfort in his throwing shoulder.

“It felt awesome,” Wasniewski said after earning the save with two innings of one-run ball. “I was here last year, and it was an even better experience this year. The adrenaline’s crazy.”

Wasniewski’s mid-90s fastball in warmups was “the hardest I’ve ever thrown,” he said. While not hitting that speed on the stadium radar gun during the game, he struck out the side in the sixth before allowing a run in the seventh.

Now, McHenry (35-4-1) is expected to turn to its other fireballer, Louisville commit Brandon Shannon, when it plays Brother Rice (35-3) in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at Slammers Stadium in Joliet.

The Warriors, who surpassed the school record of 30 wins against Larkin on May 28, finished fourth in their only other appearance at state in 2022.

Shannon threw 91 pitches in four-plus innings in the McHenry Sectional final Saturday, earning the win in a 7-3 win over Barrington. The school’s all-time wins leader with 25, he is 11-0 with a 0.79 ERA and 103 strikeouts (29 walks) in 62 innings this season.

The right-hander, who’s a team captain and three-year varsity player, needs four strikeouts to match assistant coach Zach Badgley’s single-season school record of 107 set in 2007.

Shannon will face a stacked Brother Rice lineup.

The Crusaders feature senior shortstop and Arizona commit Gavin Triezenberg (.429 BA, 15 2B, 4 HR, 41 RBIs); sophomore corner infielder Brady Cunningham (.412 BA, 18 2B, 4 HR, 28 RBIs); senior infielder and Eastern Michigan commit Aidan Nohava (.336 BA, 6 HR, 40 RBIs); and senior infielder/pitcher and Illinois State commit Jackson Natanek (.394 BA, 10 2B, 39 RBIs).

Junior lefty Braydon McKendrick (11-0, 1.57 ERA, 58 IP, 61 K) is the Crusaders’ ace.

McHenry has won 13 games in a row and features a balanced lineup.

The Warriors are led offensively by speedy freshman Carver Cohn (.385 BA, 10 2B, 4 3B, 4 HR, 27 RBIs, 17 SB), who has batted leadoff and patrolled center field all season; third baseman-pitcher Wasniewski (.330 BA, 9 2B, 36 RBIs, 12 SB); sophomore second baseman Landon Clements (.345 BA, 8 2B, 26 RBIs, 19 SB); senior first baseman Conner McLean (.309 BA, 9 2B, 25 RBIs); senior shortstop Kyle Maness (.298 BA, 6 2B, 32 RBIs); and junior right fielder Jeffry Schwab (.308 BA, 5 2B, 27 RBIs, 22 SB).

Senior designated hitter/third baseman Zach Readdy was the offensive hero in the supersectional. The St. Xavier commit helped McHenry rally from deficits of 4-0 and 5-4 with a two-run triple in the third and a tie-breaking, two-run double in the sixth.

The Warriors’ resiliency has been a key to their success all season.

“We tell them, ‘Our pitching is probably better than anybody else’s, we KNOW our defense is better than anybody else’s, and if we can just find a way to scratch and claw and get some runs, we’re probably going to be pretty good,’ ” McHenry coach Brian Rockweiler said.

“It works.”