No Cooper in Super, but Beavers still had plenty of chances
Garrett Forrester cracks a three-run homer in the first inning. The sophomore first baseman propelled the Beavers to an early 4-2 lead Saturday night at Goss Stadium, but Auburn prevailed 7-5 (courtesy Scobel Wiggins/OSU athletics)
CORVALLIS — Saturday night at Goss Stadium started off with the news that Oregon State’s ace starter, Cooper Hjerpe, was not feeling well and would not be available for duty — casting a spell of doom among the denizens of Beaver Nation.
It ended with Auburn pulling out a 7-5 victory to put the Beavers into elimination mode in the Corvallis Super Regional.
The teams will meet again at Goss at 7 p.m. Sunday in the second game of the best-of-three series, the survivor advancing to the College World Series. There is hope but no certainty that Hjerpe will take the mound against the offensive-minded Tigers (41-19), who took advantage of his absence by drawing first blood.
“We’re going to see how he feels (Sunday),” Coach Mitch Canham said after Saturday’s game.
Hjerpe — one of three finalists for the Golden Spikes and Dick Howser awards as the nation’s top pitcher — took part in a workout session at Goss prior to the game.
“He wasn’t feeling good,” Canham said. “Had a little bug.”
So Canham went with No. 2 starter Jake Pfennigs, whose control problems were the biggest reason why he didn’t last past the third inning.
Hjerpe pitched twice in last week’s Regional, winning a Friday game against New Mexico State, then picked up the save while throwing 36 pitches in the final two innings of the Regional-clinching victory over Vanderbilt. Though the junior left-hander said at the time he would be ready to start the opener of the Super Regional, Canham said after Saturday’s game it wasn’t a done deal.
“We were communicating with him, seeing where he was at,” Canham said. “After throwing two pretty aggressive innings (on Monday), if everything wasn’t feeling great (with Hjerpe), then (the plan was to) move it to another day. He got a little workout in (before Saturday’s game), but was really under the weather. We trust our medical staff on that one.”
Even without Hjerpe, No. 3 national seed Oregon State (47-17) had its chances against No. 14 Auburn right to the end.
Auburn jumped in front on a two-run homer by 6-1, 265-pound SEC MVP Sonny DiChiara — his 21st circuit clout of the season — in the top of the first inning. But the Beavers responded with four in their half of the frame, thanks mostly to a three-run shot over the center-field fence by first baseman Garret Forrester, turning Goss into a state of noise and pandemonium.
Auburn starter Trace Bright was sent to the showers before the inning was over, having thrown 47 pitches. The Beavers could have tacked on more, leaving the bases loaded when Justin Boyd lined weakly to first base to end the inning.
“I thought they were going to score 40 (runs),” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said of going to the bullpen so early. “I mean, 47 pitches by a trusted starter for us. It was like, ‘Yeah, we have to punt here.’ ”
But the Tigers responded with two more in the second to tie it at 4-4.
“That was huge,” Thompson said. “We’ve got a bloody nose, but we’re still in the ballgame.”
Pfennigs didn’t last much longer, giving up five earned runs with four hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings. By that time, Auburn led 5-4.
“Four walks right out of the chute,” Canham said. “Can’t allow that.”
Cleanup hitter Bobby Peirce pushed Auburn ahead with a solo homer in the fifth, and the Tigers added another run due to a costly Oregon State miscue in the eighth.
With D.J. Carpenter on the mound and Mike Bello on first base, Blake Rambusch hit a comebacker to Carpenter, setting up a double-play opportunity. Carpenter’s throw was on target, but shortstop and Kyle Dernedde and second baseman Travis Bazzana converged at the base, neither caught the ball and it went past both into center field. Rambusch was safe at first and Bello scooted to third. The error was assigned to Carpenter, but it was Bazzana’s fault.
“That’s going to be Dernedde’s ball going across (second),” Canham said. “Both guys bringing themselves to the bag created a little confusion and the ball goes by. That ball should go to Dernedde and be turned for a double-play.”
The Beavers then turned a double-play on a groundball to second, but Bello scored an important insurance run on the play.
Boyd led off the ninth with a single and scored on Jacob Melton’s two-out double to make it 7-5. Gavin Logan — representing the tying run — struck out to end the game.
Going against Oregon State’s lefty-hitting-dominant lineup, southpaw relievers Tommy Sheehan and Carson Skipper combined to pitch 6 1/3 innings of two-hit, shutout ball from the second through the eighth.
“They were the story of tonight,” Thompson said. “We were able to do a little bit offensively to hang around at the start. We found the solution when we got to Tommy.”
“Their guys threw strikes after the first inning,” Canham said. “You throw strikes, good things can happen. Their ability to pummel the strike zone, that’s what’s going to help you win games.”
Plate umpire John Brammer took a heap of abuse from those partisans among the 4,112 in attendance for his calls of balls and strikes, which seemed to favor the hitter — and at least on occasion, the visitors.
“They must have made some really good pitches on the edge,” was all Canham would say.
The crowd impressed Thompson, in his 30th year of coaching at the college level, his seventh season at the Auburn helm.
“Best environment I’ve ever seen,” Thompson said. “A positive fan base engaged in every single pitch of a ballgame. I couldn’t tip my hat any more to Oregon State.”
Thompson was pitching coach at Mississippi State in 2013, when the Bulldogs beat the Beavers twice at the College World Series before losing to UCLA for the championship. He said he has held great respect for Oregon State baseball since then.
“I’m fired up,” Thompson said. “This is like a bucket list (item) for me. Coaching in our league and trying to go to Omaha a few times and finally getting to come here and play. … I love it. It’s been great.”
Thompson had kind words about Hjerpe (“All you have to do is watch any video from the entire year … he has 155 strikeouts in 97 innings. Those numbers are really special”) and gushed over Melton, the Pac-12 Player of the Year.
“I’ve got a man crush on him,” Thompson said. “His speed. The power. He lost a lot of baseballs today in batting practice. A gifted athlete. You have an awareness where he’s at and when he’s going to come up (to bat) again. He torched the ball to left field in the ninth inning. He’s a high-level player. I’ve heard a lot about him and was not disappointed.”
The Tigers will start 6-4, 230-pound sophomore right-hander Joseph Gonzalez (7-2, 2.90) in Sunday’s game. If he experiences any trouble, Thompson has a flurry of southpaws ready in relief, including junior Hayden Mullins (2-1, 3.63) and sophomore Kenner Copeland (3-0, 4.20) — and possibly Sheehan and Skipper again. That wouldn’t seem to worry Canham, who said the percentages show the Beavers’ left-handed hitters fare better against southpaws than right-handers.
“Some people look at it like, ‘Oh man, left on left,’ ” Canham said. “Our guys say it’s time to go to work.”
That approach didn’t work too well against Sheehan and Skipper on Saturday. That doesn’t mean there will be any sign of surrender on Sunday.
“You know how we operate,” Canham said. “No one is happy about dropping the first game, but that’s the way we roll. We’ve going to fight back (Sunday).”
If they lose, it will be the final appearance of the season — and almost surely the careers — of juniors Melton, Boyd, Meckler, Logan and Hjerpe, who will likely sign pro contracts after the season. Melton wants to extend the season to at least a rubber match on Monday.
“It’s an opportunity for us,” the junior center fielder said. “We’ve been battling through stuff all year long. We have to go out and show who we are and play Beaver baseball. That’s all we can do — come out and play our brand of baseball.”
The Tigers are taking nothing for granted.
“I like the position we’re in, but we’re not done yet,” said senior shortstop Brody Moore, the SEC Tournament MVP who had three of Auburn’s 10 hits. “We have to show up (Sunday). We have to stick to the same approach we’ve been working on all week, and hopefully good things will happen.”
This is Auburn’s third Super Regional in the last four playable seasons (2018, ’19 and ’22). The Tigers made it to the College World Series in ’19.
“We’re trying to win a national championship, or bust,” Thompson said. “I’m sure Oregon State is trying to do the same thing. We’re coaching and managing like we’re trying to win the big one. Our season could be over in two days, but we’re aiming as high as we possibly can and trying to compete in search of something.
“It’s an amazing ballclub we’re competing against. We know (Saturday’s win) is one step. It was hard. It’s going to be hard. That’s the way it should be this time of year.”
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