The River Falls High School baseball team has yet to make an error through its first four games of the season.

The Wildcats’ defensive excellence, in addition to stellar pitching and offensive production, led to a season sweep of the Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes en route to a 4-0 start for the second time in as many years.

After River Falls defeated Tartan 12-2 in the season opener on April 7, the Wildcats thrashed Eau Claire Memorial 11-1 at home in the first Big Rivers Conference game of the year on Tuesday, April 11.

Two days later, River Falls secured a 10-2 victory over Memorial on the road and improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in Big Rivers Conference action. Less than 24 hours later, the Wildcats returned home and defeated Rochester John Marshall 16-0 to move to 4-0 for the year.

For River Falls head coach Ryan Bishop, the undefeated start and error-free baseball is a reflection of the hard work his athletes and coaching staff put into the first month of indoor practice. It appears as if that work is paying early-season dividends for the Wildcats.

“One of the more impressive stats we took from this first week is that we played error-free baseball through four games,” Bishop said. “That’s hard to do at any point, let alone in the first four games outside. It’s a credit to our coaches and players for staying focused on doing the little things right inside that will carry over outside.”

River Falls’ strong start to the season defensively has unquestionably been aided by the Wildcats’ top-end pitching, which has limited the number of balls put in play for the defense. Through the first four games, River Falls has outscored opponents 49-5, and the 10 pitchers who saw action surrendered just five earned runs.

Whether it was senior Keenan Mork, a Division 1 Notre Dame commit, pitching a two-hitter in the conference opener against Memorial or one of the Wildcats’ relievers coming in to slam the door on a victory, River Falls’ pitching had success.

“Our pitching looked strong, as we expected,” Bishop said. “They threw strikes, worked ahead in the counts, and proved they’re all capable of being varsity pitchers. We may have some top-end arms, but we also have a lot of other very good pitchers who can and will be really effective on the mound.”

Senior Eli Condon and the aforementioned Mork served as the Wildcats’ one-two punch on the hill throughout last season. Their returning veteran leadership, in addition to young, talented arms made Bishop confident in the pitching staff this year.

While the pitching was always going to be a strength for this Wildcats team, offensive production was Bishop’s largest concern going into the 2023 season. River Falls returned just two everyday starters from last year’s team, which meant a lot of inexperienced players on the field.

Bishop’s concern was in large part because of the top-end pitching his younger players will face in the Big Rivers Conference slate of games. Nearly every program in the league has at least one future Division 1 collegiate pitcher on the roster.

Although it’s a small sample size of just two league contests, River Falls appears to have no issues offensively. In the two games against Memorial, River Falls scored 10 or more both times, drew 20 total walks, recorded 12 hits and earned a pair of victories.

That’s in addition to the aforementioned two non-conference games against Rochester John Marshall and Tartan, in which River Falls won both games and scored 16 and 12 runs respectively. Bishop spoke about the Wildcats’ early success offensively, particularly against Memorial.

“The biggest thing our coaches were happy with was how our guys took advantage of the opportunities they had,” Bishop said. “On top of some timely hitting, we executed some things pretty well for being so early in the season. Our two-strike hitting, bunting and baserunning all showed promise moving forward.”

Another small sample size, but only River Falls and New Richmond remain undefeated in Big Rivers Conference play. Hudson, which preseason prognosticators picked as the favorite to win the league, lost an 11-10 shootout on the road against Chippewa Falls on Thursday, April 13.

Bishop and the coaching staff remain focused on playing the game the right way, being crisp fundamentally, and the results will take care of themselves. He spoke about staying focused and committed to daily improvement.

“We definitely saw things to build on and things to focus on improving,” Bishop said. “We’re excited to continue pushing forward through hard work and focused improvement, with the understanding that anytime you become complacent in life, you will get humbled really fast.”

River Falls will be back in action in a battle of the conference unbeaten on the road against New Richmond on Tuesday, April 18. The first pitch for that game is slated for 4:30 p.m.