River Falls’ season came to an end Monday in Grand Chut, as the Wildcats fell 4-1 to third-seeded Kaukana in Wisconsin’s Division I high school state quarterfinals.
With the win, Kaukana advances to Wednesday’s state semifinals.
The Wildcats struck first in the top of the third, when a double from Chase Rudolph scored Ethan Jeffers to make it 1-0 River Falls.
That’s where the score stood through four frames, and Jeffers held down the Kaukana offense. But the Galloping Ghosts finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth on the strength of two River Falls’ errors and a run-scoring double by Brayden Jenkins.
Kaukana added insurance runs in the sixth on two-out hits from Blake Vandeloo and Bron Schaefer.
The Wildcats got the tying run to the plate in the final frame, and Colton Maves put a good swing on the ball, only to line into a double play to end the affair.
Jeffers threw a complete game, striking out four while allowing just the two earned runs. His performance continued a string of strong pitching performances for River Falls in the postseason. The Wildcats advanced through sectionals via a pair of one-hit, complete-game shutouts, including one from Jeffers against top-seeded Hudson last week in Chippewa Falls.
River Falls had five hits to Kaukana’s six on Monday, but the sixth-seeded Wildcats didn’t put a leadoff runner on base all game, something the Galloping Ghosts did in four of their six frames at the dish.
Monday marked River Falls’ third-ever trip to the state tournament, and first since 2015.
Related Articles
- Class A state baseball: Dominant Tate Becker leads Madelia to first title
- Monday’s Minnesota high school baseball state championship game schedule
- Boys lacrosse: Hudson tops Mukwonago in OT for Wisconsin championship
- Boys lacrosse: Farmington rallies past Stillwater to win state title
- Girls lacrosse: Hudson wins Wisconsin state championship
