The River Falls High School baseball team would make the creators of Gilligan’s Island blush with how many baserunners it stranded during the season series against the rival Hudson Raiders.

River Falls failed to capitalize on copious opportunities in both games against Hudson last week. The Wildcats left 11 baserunners stranded in the 3-2 defeat on Tuesday, and then another seven in the 2-1 loss at home on Thursday afternoon.

River Falls head coach Ryan Bishop spoke about his team leaving 18 baserunners stranded in the series against Hudson, which left just eight on base in the two games.

“When you play one of the top teams in the state, you better not miss any opportunities,” Bishop said. “We missed opportunities in two straight games and we didn’t compete well enough at the plate. Take nothing away from their pitchers, but we have to compete better in those moments of tension. They did that better than us for two straight games.”

The pair of losses dropped River Falls to 6-2 overall and 4-2 in Big Rivers Conference games. Additionally, the Wildcats slipped to third in the conference, behind Hudson and Chippewa Falls (5-1), which are currently tied atop the league standings.

In River Falls’ potentially season-defining series against Hudson, the Wildcats outhit the Raiders 6-4 in the first game and 7-6 in the second game. For coach Bishop, the statistics may say his team had more hits, but they certainly didn’t win the battle at the plate.

“Two straight games we didn’t compete at the plate,” Bishop said. “We outhit them in both games on the scoreboard, but they out-at-batted us. They had more quality at-bats. They moved runners when they needed to and that’s what this series came down to.”

In that first game on Tuesday afternoon, River Falls and Hudson remained scoreless through the first four innings of action.

The Wildcats broke the pitchers’ duel in the top of the fifth inning when junior Chase McQuade blasted an RBI double off of the wall and gave River Falls a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, junior Cayden Mueller gave River Falls a 2-0 advantage when he ripped a double to the gap and scored McQuade from second base.

Hudson faced a two-run deficit and didn’t flinch. The Raiders scored once in the bottom of the fifth to make it a one-run game, 2-1, and then produced a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 3-2 lead. River Falls struggled in the top of the seventh inning and eventually suffered the 3-2 loss.

The second game of the series was nearly identical to the first. River Falls struggled to convert offensive opportunities while Hudson delivered clutch hits in the moments it needed them most.

With the game tied 1-1 going into the top of the sixth inning, Hudson’s Hunter Carlson cranked a leadoff double to the gap. After a sac bunt moved Carlson to third, he scored on a fielder’s choice and gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead.

River Falls again struggled to find offensive success in the sixth and seventh innings, which ultimately culminated in the 2-1 defeat. For coach Bishop, the inability to compete at the plate in a high-leverage situation simply wasn’t good enough to win.

“It’s almost the same story for both games,” Bishop said. “Our pitching was good, our defense was good and we only had one true error. It was just our inability to compete under pressure. I wanted to see how we would handle being in a very competitive game against a really good team and we didn’t rise to that occasion in both games. It just wasn’t consistent enough.”

River Falls did a lot of things well in the series against Hudson, despite struggling at the plate in big moments. Senior Keenan Mork, who pitched in game one on Tuesday, threw all six innings and allowed just one earned run off of four hits.

River Falls senior Eli Condon, who took the mound in the latter half of the series on Thursday, pitched seven innings and surrendered just two earned runs on six hits. Additionally, the Wildcats’ defense made only one error in the two games.

“It’s easy to get spoiled because our pitching and defense has been so solid for a long time,” Bishop said. “Those guys did great. You give up four or five hits and one earned run in two straight games against one of the top teams in the state, that’s really good. But they’re really good too. They took more consistent quality at-bats than we did, and that was the series.”

River Falls is slated to be back in action on the road against Baldwin-Woodville on Monday, May 1. The first pitch for that contest is slated for 5 p.m.