River Falls honors veterans in pregame ceremony for Military Appreciation Night

By Reagan Hoverman

With less than a month left in the regular season, the River Falls Legion baseball team finally has its signature win — a 2-1 walk-off thriller against the rival Hudson Raiders of Legion Post 50.

Troughout the year, River Falls head coach Ryan Bishop has spoken about the youth and relative inexperience of his Legion roster, which has seen limited varsity experience and clutch moments during their time on the diamond thus far.

That changed on Thursday, July 7, when the Wildcats of Legion Post 121 found themselves in a seven-inning grudge match with their biggest rival. The low-scoring affair was in large part because of the dominance on the mound for both squads.

For River Falls, that was sophomore Cayden Mueller and for Hudson, it was Aaron Schwechler. The first major scoring opportunity didn’t come until the bottom of the second inning when Schwechler, with one runner already on base, hit a batter and then walked the next Wildcat to load the bases with two outs.

Schwechler reached deep in his bag and delivered a pitch that generated a pop fly, which got him out of the first jam of the game. After a scoreless top of the third inning by Mueller, River Falls got the bats going in the bottom of the frame.

After a groundout to start the inning, sophomore Chase McQuade hit a screaming ground ball to the left side of the infield which generated an error and allowed Mc-Quade to reach first base and shortly after advance to second. Two batters later, junior designated hitter Elijah Baker poked a single to right field. McQuade took off as he rounded third and Bishop waved him home, scoring the first run of the game to give River Falls a 1-0 lead.

River Falls held the lead for multiple innings before Hudson got on the board in the top of the fifth. Payton Lawrence of the Hudson Raiders ripped a single and then proceeded to advance to second after a wild pitch to the ensuing batter.

Lawrence proceeded to steal third base which put the Raiders in a prime position to tie the game. That’s when Ryan Rambo stepped up to the plate and knocked a single to left field which scored Lawrence and tied the game 1-1.

A scoreless sixth and top of the seventh inning meant that River Falls had a chance to walk it off going to the bottom of the seventh inning. Junior Eli Condon got the inning going with a leadoff walk, which was followed by a beautifully executed bunt by the aforementioned McQuade, who moved Condon to third base and successfully beat out the throw to first.

That meant River Falls had runners on first and third with no outs in a tied game in the bottom of the seventh inning. The next batter, sophomore Bryce Beven, got hit by a pitch and loaded the bases with no outs.

After the next batter was successfully retired, junior Brody Rudolph was at the plate. With the loud crowd environment, game on the line and bases loaded, Hudson felt the pressure and threw a wild pitch which allowed McQuade to score from third base and win the game 2-1. Coach Bishop spoke about the walk-off thriller.

“It was good to be on the top end of one of those close games,” Bishop said. “We haven’t played consistent enough to deserve to win some of those games and we were a little better tonight. We had our moments tonight.”

While the walk-off victory will certainly be talked about in River Falls conversations, the pitching of Mueller is not to be understated. Through the first four innings of the game, he had only surrendered one hit to the Hudson lineup.

“He is definitely one of the guys that we expect some big things from on the mound,” Bishop said of Mueller. “He hasn’t had as many starts because he is a pretty important part of our defense as well, especially with a couple of our guys missing this summer. He’s getting built into the rotation because he is going to get some big outings for us.”

Bishop was candid in his comments regarding the importance of the game given the special military appreciation night, the size of the crowd, the pressure of a close game and the opponent, the biggest rival in the league.

“I think it gives (our guys) confidence,” Bishop said. “It’s Hudson, and anytime they come to the park and they’re playing against us I think they feel the same way. They give a little extra. It’s like Packers-Vikings or Packers-Bears. There is no doubt. These will likely be our varsity rosters next year, so it gives us a little bit of confidence.”

While Bishop was happy with the outcome of the game, he also made it clear how happy he, the program and the community were to be able to honor veterans in the pregame ceremony on Military Appreciation Night.

Before the game began, each player got to pick someone they know who either had served or is currently serving in the military. During pregame introductions, the player’s name was read along with the name of the person they chose to honor.

If the person the player chose to honor was in attendance, they were asked to walk onto the field with that player. After that was done, Monty Hansen, a United States Marine who serves with the River Falls Legion Post 121 Color Guard, threw out the first pitch of the game. Bishop spoke about getting a chance to honor veterans for their service.

“We do our best to try to help our players realize why we wear the Post 121 on our back and the people who came before us to give us this opportunity,” Bishop said. “We made a night out of it and we did some things this year to make it hit home with our guys. We have a beautiful field and none of this is possible without a lot of sacrifices that people made before us.”

River Falls celebrated veterans and the Legion and then got to celebrate again later in the night after a walk-off in the bottom of the seventh inning. The next game for River Falls is on Monday, July 11, on the road against Eau Claire. That game is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.

United States Marine Monty Hansen, who is a part of the River Falls Legion Post 121 Color Guard, throws out the first pitch on Military Appreciation Night before the Legion baseball game between River Falls and Hudson on Thursday, July 7. Photo by Reagan Hoverman

The Hudson catcher pulls off his helmet and walks to the dugout as the River Falls Legion baseball team celebrates the walk-off victory at home plate. The dugout gathered around Chase McQuade, who scored the winning run from third base after Hudson threw a wild pitch. Photo by Reagan Hoverman