Early pitching challenges for Warren, Mundelein

It’s only early April, and yet Warren and Mundelein no longer have an ace up their sleeve — at least not the ones they were counting on at the beginning of the season.

Injuries have upset the pitching apple cart in the North Suburban Conference Lake Division for the near future as Warren ace Pat Kenney and Mundelein ace Ryan Borucki are both biding their time on the bench until further notice.

Kenney has significant soreness in his pitching arm while Borucki is dealing with elbow tenderness. Both teams learned of their pitchers’ problems this week, and both teams will be without them for multiple games.

Borucki will take at least a week off while Kenney has been advised by doctors not to throw for at least two to four weeks. As seniors, both are shaving precious time from their final high school season.

“It’s been rough for him so far,” Mundelein coach Todd Parola said of Borucki who threw a no-hitter last week in a spring break win over Cary-Grove downstate and then started feeling pain. “He really doesn’t want to miss anything. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. He’s got a bright future ahead.”

Borucki will be playing at Iowa next year, and will see Kenney in conference play. Kenney has committed to Purdue.

For Kenney, his problems also began during a spring break trip downstate. He started a game, threw seven pitches and then asked to come out due to the pain in his arm. MRI tests came back negative, but doctors still prescribed a lengthy period of rest.

“We want the best for Pat. He’s going to Purdue, so we don’t want to take any chances with him,” Warren coach Clint Smothers said. “But it’s frustrating because Pat was looking so good during the preseason. He was throwing well, hitting 88 to 90 miles per hour and we were thinking that he was going to be our No. 1 this year. This will definitely set us back.”

Setbacks have become all too familiar for Kenney.

Last year, he also got off to a rough start, throwing just under 20 pitches over Spring Break before arm soreness set in.

“You feel bad that the same thing is happening to him again,” Smothers said. “You don’t want this leading to anything else, so you hold off for now. But you also hope that he can make it back soon.”

In the meantime, both Warren and Mundelein are searching for other pitching alternatives.

Opportunity knocks:

There is a silver lining for Warren and Mundelein as they adjust to life without their injured aces, Pat Kenney and Ryan Borucki.

Coaches at both schools will become even more familiar with their pitching staffs. And pitchers who might not have gotten the chance otherwise will now get to strut their stuff during some of the more meaningful games on the schedule.

“This definitely opens up some opportunities,” Mundelein coach Todd Parola said. “We’ve already had a couple of guys step up and do a nice job.”

Matt Langlie and Jared Mandel both had big games this week for the Mustangs against Lake Forest.

On Wednesday, Langlie allowed just 1 run while Mandel gave up just 1 hit in 6 innings on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Warren has gotten quality innings out of both Jimmy Nickell and Adam Ruess.

“We knew we’d be young this season but without Pat, we’re really young now,” Warren coach Clint Smothers said. “Jimmy and Adam are keeping us in every game they pitch. We’re 3-5-1 (as of Wednesday) and I’m really proud of the fact that our record doesn’t indicate how competitive we’ve been.

“Right now, we’re moving guys around, we’re searching for the right lineup. But we’ll find it and we’ll be fine.”

Keeping tradition:

A speedy recovery is a top priority at Warren and Mundelein.

Without their aces on the mound, the Blue Devils and Mustangs might find it difficult to duplicate their past successes.

Warren, playing without Pat Kenney (arm), has made it to the sectional championship game the past two seasons and Mundelein, which is down Ryan Borucki (elbow), has advanced to the sectional in five of the last six seasons.

“We really want to stay at that level,” Warren coach Clint Smothers said. “We have some good players again this year, but we are young. We have only three guys who played last year. That’s why a guy like Pat is so important for us. Our other guys will battle but we’re also looking forward to getting him back.”