Ethan Jeffers’ seven-inning shutout outing against Hudson on May 12 stole the show, as River Falls baseball split a pair of games with its rival.

Jeffers was electric, striking out eight, and allowing just two hits and a walk. When Jeffers takes the mound and catcher Colten Maves is behind the plate, River Falls Coach Ryan Bishop takes notice.

“I love watching Ethan and Colten working together out on the mound and the plate. They’ve been doing it for a few years. Ethan is as intentional with his preparation and everything that he goes about on the mound as anyone I’ve ever been around. He is always in the best position to compete, and he was on full display with that on Tuesday night against a really good offensive lineup.”

Bishop said Jeffers’ success comes as no surprise because of the work he puts in to make it happen.

It was not the best night at the plate for the Wildcats, but RBI base knocks from Cal DuMond and Landon McQuade back-to-back in the fifth inning were enough for a 2-0 win.

Hudson got revenge on May 14 with a 10-4 win, but the score did not tell the whole story. The Raiders scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth to blow the game open after leading 5-4 in the middle of the sixth. The Wildcats were better at the plate, accumulating nine hits, highlighted by a pair of doubles from Cayden Kroll. His efforts drove in a run, and he himself was driven in twice.

“At this point in the season, you’re hoping to play your best baseball,” Bishop said. “We felt good about things, we liked our gameplan, our guys really did a nice job competing and not falling into the trap of worrying about who you’re playing on paper, because you don’t play games on paper.”

With Hudson entering the rivalry week at 17-2 overall and an untouched 8-0 record in conference, River Falls gained some confidence over the competitive games.

The Wildcats closed the week with an 8-2 non-conference win over Middle Border Conference leading Altoona. River Falls had just one error each game against the three great teams, a focus for the team moving forward.

“We had a stretch for about a week where we played uncharacteristic baseball in terms of our defense, and even on the mound we had too many walks and too many errors, which is obviously the nemesis for any baseball coach,” Bishop said. “It was good this week to see our guys rebound… Force teams to have to beat us.”

River Falls is 11-6 overall and 6-3 in Big Rivers Conference play. Bishop said the team is excellent at doing the little things right. The key over the final stretch will be refusing to waver in that commitment to the details.

“Just continued consistency in all facets of the game,” Bishop said. “We do a really good job of doing the little things that make the biggest difference.”