Beaver pitching has been great, but now is the time to shine
Junior left-hander Cooper Hjerpe is a semifinalist for the National Pitcher of the Year Award won by OSU’s Luke Heimlich in 2018 (courtesy OSU sports information)
Oregon State’s run at a Pac-12 baseball championship — which continues at 6 p.m. Thursday against UCLA at Goss Stadium in the opener of a three-game series that concludes the regular season — has been keyed by a lively offensive attack and a splendid defense.
But the lifeblood of the Beavers’ so-far glorious season has been the pitching staff.
And that’s saying something, given the health of two of the three projected weekend starters — junior Jake Pfennigs and sophomore Will Frisch. Pfennigs was lost for seven weeks at mid-season with an upper arm/shoulder muscular injury. Frisch has missed the entire season following elbow surgery.
The OSU hurlers took a beating in last weekend’s series at Arizona, yielding 24 runs on 34 hits, 15 walks and five hit-by-pitch in losing two of three games. That’s an anomaly during a campaign in which the No. 2-ranked Beavers (40-11 overall, 19-8 in Pac-12 action) still rank second nationally in walks allowed per nine innings (2.46), third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.88, 593 to 137), fifth in walks and hits per innings pitched (1.18) and 11th in ERA (3.69).
In the 22 games prior to Arizona, Oregon State’s staff had allowed but 51 earned runs, only four times giving up more than three runs. The Arizona series was played in 100-degree heat, and the Wildcats have an excellent hitting lineup. Pitching coach Rich Dorman isn’t, however, trotting out excuses.
“It was just a bad weekend,” says Gorman, in his third season working with head coach Mitch Canham. “I’m glad we had it then instead of later. But the guys have been good all year. I expect better things to happen this weekend for us.”
Control was the issue with the Beavers’ pitching staff a year ago, when they led the Pac-12 in hit batters (83), combined walks and HBPs (325) and wild pitches (64). Those numbers are down demonstrably this season, to 34 hit batters, 160 combined walks and HBPs and 23 wild pitches.
“Different staff, different guys,” is the way Dorman explains it. “Last year we had a lot of bigger stuff, strikeout stuff. This year our guys have better command. This group controls the zone. It starts with Cooper (Hjerpe) on Friday nights.”
Hjerpe had been impenetrable all season until faltering last Friday at Arizona, giving up eight hits and four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings of the Beavers’ 12-9 victory. The 6-3, 200-pound sophomore left-hander from Capay, Calif., a semifinalist for the National Pitcher of the Year award, is still 9-1 with a 2.42 ERA. He has yielded only 54 hits in 78 innings, with 16 walks and 125 strikeouts (most in the nation per innings pitched) and a .189 opponents’ batting average.
Is there a better pitcher in the country?
“I haven’t seen one,” says Dorman, who pitched at Oregon State for one season (1999) and spent nine seasons in the minor leagues. “I know our (batters) were sick and tired of facing him all fall and early spring. He keeps getting better with every start. He continues to grow and develop his secondary stuff. And our guys are scoring runs for him. When you’re up 4-0, you can go out and attack like a son of gun. Coop has done a tremendous job. He is having a hell of a year.”
So is Jacob Kmatz, a 6-3, 220-pound right-hander from Albuquerque who is the running for the Collegiate Baseball Freshman Pitcher of the Year. Kmatz is 8-1 with a 3.52 ERA. He has allowed 14 walks with 57 strikeouts in 64 innings filling in for Frisch.
“You give the ball to a true freshman and the kid goes 8-1,” Dorman says. “Pretty incredible if you ask me. He pitched well enough at Arizona (in a 5-2 loss). He left the curveball up in the seventh. Kmatz has been amazing. We’re very fortunate to have him do what he’s done.”
Pfennigs returned to duty on April 14 and has gradually worked his way back to “full start” pitch count status. The 6-7, 215-pound junior right-hander from Post Falls, Idaho, is 2-0 with an 0.84 ERA, allowing 17 hits and two runs in 21 innings. He struggled last Sunday at Arizona, giving up five hits and five walks, though only one run, in 2 2/3 innings.
“That was out of character for Jake,” Dorman says. “He was not happy about that. He is ready to go out and compete this weekend. He has been good since he got back. From a physical standpoint, he is ready to go.”
Perhaps the most pleasant surprise has been Ryan Brown, a 6-2, 215-pound redshirt freshman right-hander from South Salem who didn’t play last season. When closer Mitchell Verburg struggled early, Brown (4-0, 3.81 ERA, nine saves) ably took over the role. In his last 13 appearances and 13 2/3 innings, Brown has given up seven hits and two runs, with four walks and 17 strikeouts.
Redshirt freshman Ryan Brown (left), being congratulated by catcher Gavin Logan, has emerged as the Beavers’ closer (courtesy OSU sports information)
“We screwed up not having him in the right role to start,” Dorman says. “The bigger the situation, the better Brownie gets. He has done a tremendous job maturing and being the guy who wants the ball late in close games.”
After losing his closer role, Verburg has found a groove in middle relief and set-up situations. In eight games and 12 2/3 innings since mid-April, the sixth-year senior right-hander from Lake Oswego has allowed four hits and one earned run, with five walks and 16 strikeouts.
“He ironed out a couple of mechanical issues and got his slider going again,” Dorman says. “He has always had that fastball command. That competitive beast is still in him. He’s been on a roll.”
The unsung hero of the staff has been Ben Ferrer, a transfer from South Carolina Upstate. The 5-11, 210-pound junior right-hander (3-0, 2.12 ERA) has been an outstanding middle man, allowing only 25 hits in 46.2 innings, with nine walks, 58 strikeouts and a .161 opponents’ batting average.
“Beyond those numbers, what Ben brings to the staff — leadership, competitiveness — has been a blessing,” Dorman says.
Good news for the Beavers comes with this: AJ Lattery is back on the active list after missing more than a month with a bout of mononucleosis. The 6-5, 250-pound sophomore right-hander from Prior Lake, Minn., who hasn’t pitched since April 10, is 0-1 with a 2.35 ERA, allowing only 18 hits with five walks and 21 strikeouts in 23 innings.
“AJ threw live batting practice (Wednesday),” Dorman says. “He’s begging me to get on the roster. He has gotten better. It’s fun watching the development of all these guys through the year — not just as pitchers but men. How they’ve grown up between the ears and off the field … it has been fun to watch.”
Oregon State leads the nation in fielding percentage (.989), a major benefit to the pitching staff.
“That and the fact that we have an offense that scores runs,” Dorman says. “You don’t have to pitch perfect. Any time you know you have a great defense and a great offense, it takes a lot of the pressure off.”
UCLA comes to Corvallis with plenty of motivation. The Bruins (33-18, 17-10) are in third place in the Pac-12 behind OSU and Stanford (33-14, 18-9) and could pass the Beavers with sweep. UCLA hits only .269 as a team but has a .386 on-base percentage and trails only OSU in that category and in walks (257). The pitching-rich Bruins lead the Pac-12 with a 3.48 ERA and are second behind the Beavers in strikeouts per nine innings.
Stanford plays host to Pac-12 cellar-dweller Southern Cal in its final regular-season series. The Cardinal trail OSU by one game entering the weekend. If the Cardinal sweep the Trojans, the Beavers would need to sweep the Bruins to secure the Pac-12 regular-season championship outright.
“We’re still in control going into the final weekend,” Dorman says. “That’s what you want. We don’t need someone else to lose. That’s what you tell your guys. ‘You want it? Go get it.’
“UCLA is a very good team. No matter who you are in the Pac-12, every weekend you better show up to play. We just have to play ‘D’ and execute pitches. We’re going to be fine.”
After the UCLA series, Oregon State will look ahead to the first-ever Pac-12 Tournament May 25-29 at Scottsdale, Ariz. The major goal for the Beavers, ranked second and third in the national polls this week, is to secure one of the top eight national seeds, which would guarantee them home-field advantage through the Super Regionals of the NCAA Tournament. Dorman isn’t revealing how he’ll handle his pitching assignments in Scottsdale.
“We’re in a spot where we don’t have to win (the Pac-12 Tournament) to get into the postseason,” Dorman says. “We have to be creative in how we line it up and make sure we’re smart about how we use our arms. But our guys are competitors. If it’s a game, they want to win. They’ll look at it as another opportunity to go out there and be Oregon State.”
Rosters for the Pac-12 Tournament will be expanded from 27 to 30 players.
“We’ll bring some extra arms,” Dorman says. “The guys are ready for it. They’re excited. They’re really competitive. I’m proud of how hard they work and how focused they are.”
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