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Reuss on a roll with baseball at Warren

Warren pitcher Adam Reuss is firing strikes again.

You might remember that the senior did it last fall, too, the difference being that he did so wearing a helmet and shoulder pads.

Reuss quarterbacked Warren to the state playoffs, throwing for 1,968 yards, including 13 touchdowns, while completing 62 percent of his 258 passes. He both passed and ran for a pair of scores in a game against Mundelein. He earned All-North Suburban Conference and Daily Herald All-Area honorable mention honors.

Reuss says he had interest from some Division II and smaller D-I football schools. Instead, however, he chose to sign a letter of intent to play Division I baseball for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which competes in the Horizon League.

“When I was younger, I always liked baseball more,” Reuss said. “I played football, and I loved that too, but I thought I just had a better chance in baseball. I had a lot of offers for both, but I chose just baseball because that’s what I always wanted to do.”

Reuss, who stands nearly 6 feet 5, has been the ace of Warren’s staff this spring. He pitched 3 shutout innings of 1-hit ball against defending Class 4A state runner-up Grant last Saturday and earned the save in a 2-0 win over Stevenson on Monday. He was the hard-luck loser in a 1-0 loss to Stevenson last week, with the only run scoring on a squeeze play.

Reuss is scheduled to make his fourth start of the season today against Mundelein. He throws two-seam and four-seam fastballs, a circle change and curveball.

“When he throws, he keeps us in games,” Blue Devils coach Clint Smothers said. “He threw a great game against Stevenson (last week).”

UW-Milwaukee’s pitching staff had a program-record 3.73 ERA in 2012 and after the season, for the first time in their history, the Panthers had three players selected in the Major League Baseball draft. Scott Doffek is in his 19th season, seventh as head coach, with the Panthers.

“Their campus is really nice and their coaching staff was really helpful on the visit,” said Reuss, who committed to UW-Milwaukee over the winter. “Everything about it made me want to go there.”

Fab frosh: The little guy playing shortstop for Warren has been playing big.

Freshman Matt Burch ripped an RBI double to deep center field in the Blue Devils’ 3-2 loss to host Grant on Saturday. In Monday’s 2-0 win over Stevenson, Burch was 1-for-2 with a run scored.

“He’s one of the guys leading our team right now,” Warren coach Clint Smothers said.

“He came out of nowhere,” Blue Devils ace Adam Reuss said of Burch. “We brought him up and, all of a sudden, he has the highest batting average on the team.”

A home run for JDRF: In between games of Saturday’s varsity/JV doubleheader between host Grant and Warren, Grant’s baseball team presented Huntley resident Collin Chesney a check for more than $300 for the JDRF’s Walk to Cure Type 1 diabetes.

Chesney, who has Type 1 diabetes, turns 11 next month. He threw out a ceremonial first pitch between games.

Former Grant teacher ABD baseball coach Craig Griffis passed away in the fall of 2011 due to complications of Type 1 diabetes.

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