The Spring Valley Hawks nearly mounted one of the most improbable comebacks in St. Croix Valley Baseball League history on Tuesday night.

After falling behind 11-0 through five innings of the home game against River Falls, Spring Valley came storming back and scored 10 unanswered runs in the sixth through eighth innings before ultimately losing 11-10 when the Fighting Fish turned a double play to end the game.

For Spring Valley manager Erik Thompson, the loss left a lingering bittersweet taste. He loved the passion and grit his players showed as they erased a double-digit deficit, but he couldn’t help but be disappointed that the comeback ran out of steam in that pivotal ninth inning.

“It would have been pretty cool,” Thompson said. “We got down 11-0 early and then we started hitting the ball. All of a sudden we’ve got five runs on the board. We got it to first and second with nobody out and the winning run on first. We started thinking, ‘Dude, we’re going to win this game.’ Their guy did a nice job to turn that double play though. That’s baseball.”

With the win, River Falls improved to 15-0 overall and 5-0 in St. Croix Valley Baseball League games. It’s among the two best starts to a season in franchise history, alongside the 2019 Fighting Fish, which began the year with 13 straight victories.

The records between those two Fighting Fish squads may be similar, but in player/manager Josh Eidem’s eyes, River Falls’ 2023 squad has far surpassed any other start to a season in franchise history.

“One year we started undefeated and didn’t even realize it at the time,” Eidem said. “As soon as we realized, we lost the next game immediately. That year we didn’t play half the schedule we’ve played this year. I would consider this the best start that we’ve ever had.”

The Fighting Fish and Hawks are no strangers to late-game dramatic conclusions. The last time River Falls lost was a walk-off home run on the road against Spring Valley last summer. These two local town ball teams have a recent history of rich, tense games.

As Spring Valley chipped away at River Falls’ massive lead in the middle innings on Wednesday night, the Hawks almost certainly started thinking about the late-game magic they used to beat the Fighting Fish last summer.

Although they couldn’t quite walk it off again this year, Thompson was happy with how his team battled against the defending Wisconsin Baseball Association state champions. He spoke about how River Falls is as deep and talented as any team in the state.

“Last year we had a moment here and that was the last time they lost,” Thompson said. “Now they’ve won like twenty-something in a row. They’re really good and one through six of that lineup is so good. They’ll be one of the top teams again and they’ve got as good a chance to win it as anybody.”

River Falls began the game with a run in the top of the first inning to go up 1-0. A sac fly in the top of the fourth made it 2-0 before third baseman Ragan Pinnow blasted a two-run homer to left field, which gave River Falls a 4-0 advantage.

The Fish added five runs in the top of the fourth inning to make it a 9-0 lead. River Falls outfielder Spencer Diedrich blasted a two-run shot to straightaway center in the top of the fifth that made it an 11-0 contest.

Instead of rolling over, Spring Valley responded with a five-run bottom of the sixth inning that gave the Hawks a pulse heading into the final three frames. The sixth proved to be the end of the line for River Falls pitcher Kyle Fritz, who left the game after five and one-third innings of work.

Eidem spoke about how Fritz didn’t run out of gas. Instead, he gave up a couple of hits before River Falls made several errors that ultimately sparked Spring Valley’s comeback.

“That’s just a really good team,” Eidem said. “Against a really good team, you can’t make any mistakes. He gave up a couple of hits and we had three or four outs that we gave them. They’re a young, scrappy team, so you can’t give them momentum. We made a couple of mistakes.”

Spring Valley rode that momentum to a pair of runs in the seventh inning and three more in the eighth to make it an 11-10 game going to the final frame. The Hawks began the bottom of the ninth with a double and a walk.

However, River Falls recorded an out and then turned a double play to end the game and salvage the 11-10 victory against Spring Valley. With the loss, the Hawks slipped to 3-5 overall and 3-1 in St. Croix Valley Baseball League action.

Whether it was frustration with the umpires or nearly blowing a massive double-digit lead, River Falls infielders Lucas Luedtke and Trey Larson unleashed profanity-laden tirades at the umpires who were walking off of the diamond.

Shockingly, one of the umpires turned around and shouted back at Luedtke, who had followed the umpire working the bases back near the Spring Valley dugout. Fish players separated Luedtke from the verbal sparring match before heading back to the visitor dugout.

After the game, Eidem spoke about a couple of his players and the umpires getting into a verbal altercation, which is something he had never seen before.

“There were some tempers there between players and umpires,” Eidem said. “We shouldn’t ever talk to umpires like that. We had that conversation. I’ve never seen anything like that. I grabbed the umpires and tried to get them out of there. They’re professionals and they know better than to bark back at 25-year-old guys. I just tried to get everyone out of there.”

Even long after the game had ended and the altercation had been remedied, Thompson still didn’t know what happened or what to make of the situation between a couple of the Fish and the umpires.

“I don’t know what happened, but I’ve never seen anything like that,” Thompson said. “I just heard someone yelling and it didn’t sound normal. I think it was building and it was an issue where somebody didn’t like something. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Spring Valley is slated to be back in action at home against Plum City on Wednesday, June 21. River Falls will be back on the diamond the same night on the road against Osceola. Both of those contests are slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.