With Rich Dorman, talking OSU pitching on eve of Fort Worth Regional
Rich Dorman (Courtesy Oregon State Athletics)
If Oregon State is to rise up and claim the Fort Worth Regional, its pitching will have to be a major part of the story.
Statistically, at least, the No. 2 seed Beavers (34-22 overall, 16-14 in Pac-12 action) take the league’s best pitching staff into Friday’s 11 a.m. Regional opener against No. 3 Dallas Baptist (37-15).
“As a whole, we competed pretty well and gave ourselves a chance to win a lot of games,” pitching coach Rich Dorman said Thursday night on the eve of the Beavers’ opener in Fort Worth. “At times we did a really good job, and at times we didn’t.”
OSU led the Pac-12 in most pitching categories through the regular season, including ERA (3.42, eighth nationally), opponents’ batting average (.217), walks and hits per innings pitched (1.2, eighth nationally), hits allowed per nine innings (7.1, fifth nationally) and strikeouts per nine innings (10).
Over the last four weeks, though, the Beavers nosedived as a team, losing eight of their final 11 after starting the season 31-14 and 13-7. And the pitching crew has to accept its share of the blame.
Most of the problem has been with control. Oregon State led the conference in hit batsmen (76) and yielded the fourth-most walks (208).
'We had moments when we hit a few more guys than we wanted to,” says Dorman, in his second season as OSU’s pitching coach. “Some pitches got away from us. If we didn’t hit and walk people, we probably would have led the country in ERA.”
The problems started on April 11, when the Beavers took a 4-1 lead into the eighth against Oregon. The Ducks scored three in the inning on three walks, two HBPs and a single, then won 5-4 in the 11th.
Trouble came more frequently a bit later. To wit:
• From April 23-25, OSU gave up 23 runs in losing two of three to Cal-Irvine.
• On April 30, the Beavers entered the bottom of the eighth with a 5-1 advantage over UCLA. Bryant Salgado walked the first two hitters and Dorman had to go to closer Jake Mulholland early. The veteran left-hander closed the door on the Bruins in the eighth, but Mulholland and Jack Washburn were touched for four runs in the ninth, and UCLA won 6-5 in the 10th.
• From May 14-16, OSU yielded 24 runs in losing two of three to Arizona State.
• On May 23, the Beavers had lost their first two games to Arizona but entered the eighth inning of Sunday’s finale with a 5-1 edge. Wade Meckler’s apparent double plated two more runs to make it 7-1, but he was called out for missing first base. The Wildcats came back for four runs in the eighth and a run in the ninth to win 6-5, handing the Beavers probably their most heartbreaking setback of the season.
“There were a couple of times if we’d finished off games, we might be hosting a Regional, so that’s a disappointment,” says Dorman, in his second season as OSU’s pitching coach.
Dorman was encouraged that his staff gave up only six earned runs in its season-ending three-game series at Stanford.
“Credit to the guys — they have kept pounding and competing,” he says. “I believe the failures have made us better. We’re going to do what we can to prove it in the (NCAA) tournament.”
Given some of his statistical line, it’s shocking that Oregon State’s No. 1 starter, redshirt sophomore Kevin Abel, is only 3-4 in 15 starts. The pitching star for the 2018 College World Series champions yielded only 45 hits with 106 strikeouts and .167 opponents’ batting average in 79 innings. The 6-1, 205-pound right-hander led the Pac-12 with 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings. But Abel — who missed most of 2019 and all of 2020 after Tommy John elbow surgery — also had 53 walks, 17 HBPs and 15 wild pitches.
“Kevin’s season hasn’t been free and easy and perfect,” Dorman says. “Any time you come back from a surgery like that, it takes some time to get back into it. Kevin had some growing pains this year, being a Friday night starter for the first time, dealing with the expectations and the hype. It’s always hard in a draft year.
“But he’s a worker and a warrior. He wants to be the best. He stayed with it. As frustrating as it was at times, he kept going. His biggest thing is to continue to work to find the fastball command.”
Abel’s best outing of the season came last Friday in a 1-0 loss to Stanford and its ace Brendan Beck, who hurled a complete game three-hitter. Abel allowed four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts, throwing 106 pitches over eight innings — his first stint longer than six frames this season.
“Kevin is starting to trust his delivery more, and now he can start getting his focus where it needs to be — around home plate,” Dorman says. “When he gets it, it’s going to be scary. He is going to pitch for a long time.”
Cooper Hjerpe, a 6-2, 190-pound freshman left-hander (3-6, 3.75), has been the No. 2 starter. He has given up 57 hits, with 22 walks, 87 strikeouts and a .217 opponents’ batting average in 72 innings.
“Cooper has the potential to be among the top five lefties in the country,” Dorman says. “With his electric fastball, He has an opportunity to be on the elite level if his secondary stuff comes on more. We’re just looking for the consistency every outing. He has been working on developing the changeup. Once he figures out how and when to use it along with his fastball, he’s going to have a lot of fun pitching.”
Jake Pfennigs has been the Sunday starter this season. The 6-6, 215-pound sophomore right-hander (5-0, 3.38) has allowed 52 hits with 15 walks, 44 strikeouts and a .251 opponents’ batting average in 53 1/3 innings.
“This kid has really started to come into his own,” Dorman says. “He looks like a pitcher now. First there was a fastball and not a lot of secondary stuff. Some of his breaking balls were 58-footers. Now he has a competitive breaking ball that he can throw early in the count. He is more mature on the mound now. That leads to more confidence. Jake has been good, but he has just scratched the surface.”
Dorman may have the deepest bullpen in program history. It is led by a pair of first-team All-Pac-12 selections — 6-foot, 225-pound freshman right-hander Will Frisch (3-0, 2.17) and 6-2, 205-pound senior left-handed closer Jake Mulholland (2-2, 3.07, 13 saves). The others who stand a good chance of seeing duty in Fort Worth are all right-handers — the 5-11, 205-pound sophomore Salgado, 5-9, 170-pound sophomore Brock Townsend, 6-3, 205-pound junior Mitchell Verburg, 6-2, 210-pound freshman Jack Washburn and 6-4, 220-pound Joey Mundt.
“Every one of those guys has gone through a stretch when he has been unhittable,” Dorman says. “We rode them pretty hard the first two-thirds of the season. Now that the starters are lengthened out and the bullpen is rested, we’ll see the early version of them coming back.
“The bullpen has done a good job. It’s rare you have seven or eight guys you can give the baseball to, but it’s a good thing. It keeps everybody healthy.”
Justin Boyd (Courtesy: Oregon State Athletics/Scobel Wiggins)
If the Beavers play four games in Fort Worth, Frisch — with probably the most lively fastball on the staff — would be the likely fourth starter. He could also be used in long relief early in the Regional.
“Will is a smart kid, a special kid, a tremendous worker,” Dorman says. “In most programs, he’d be the Friday night guy. He can elevate when he wants to and he can dump the slider and changeup in there. His progression and maturation have been fun to watch.”
Mulholland, 24, is Oregon State’s career saves leader with 43.
“Mully has done a great job,” Dorman says. “Jake is such a great kid. He brings that smile and energy to the field every day. It’s been an awesome run for him. Any moment he can go out there and get the last out of the game. He has had a couple of outings where things doesn’t get done. That’s the life of trying to get that 27th out. People can say what they want; they don’t know how hard that is. Sometimes he makes the ninth inning so undramatic, we’ve gotten spoiled a little bit.
“We know what we’re going to get when we bring in Jake. He is going to make the other team beat us. He’s not going to beat himself.”
Salgado has been sensational in his first season as a Beaver after a transfer from San Jacinto JC in Pasadena, Texas. He is 3-0 with an 0.36 ERA, having given up one earned run in 25 innings. The flame-throwing righty — he tops out at 96 mph — has yielded only 13 hits with 12 walks and 27 Ks and a .160 opponents’ batting average.
“Bryant has done a great job pitching in the best conference in America as a first-year Division I player,” Dorman says. “He has the great heater and has done a good job filling up the zone. I trust him to throw strikes. The biggest piece for him is landing a secondary pitch. That’s where he’s struggled at times.”
Washburn (3-2, 3.41) is another reliever with a tremendous fastball. He has allowed just 19 hits with 18 walks, 41 strikeouts and a .178 opponents’ batting average. Townsend (2-0, 2.70) has the best control, with only three walks and 32 strikeouts over 23 1/3 innings.
“Not great ‘velo,’ but Brock is a command pitcher who moves the ball around and it jumps on you some,” Dorman says. “He has the potential to be a starting guy for us.”
Oregon State would love to get a crack at No. 1 seed Texas Christian (42-17), but first must get past Dallas Baptist, which hit .290 with 90 home runs in the regular season and scored 44 runs in winning four games and the Missouri Valley Conference post-season tournament. Six players have hit at least eight homers, including second baseman Jackson Glenn with 19.
“They can knock it around,” Dorman says. “It’s going to be a heck of a challenge for us. We’re excited to see how it plays out.”
Dorman says coaching his staff through a first full season has been “a lot of fun.”
“It’s a war every weekend in the Pac-12,” he says. “I love that. I love our kids, and I love our fans, that they hold us accountable for making sure our guys are ready to play. With 80 percent of the programs across the country, nobody is going to care. Beaver Nation expects us to go out there and do a great job.
“I can’t wait until Goss Stadium is packed again. We’ve missed that experience this season. I know this: They’d have been proud of this team. The growth has been special, and it’s going to continue to get better.”
Goss Stadium at Coleman Field (Courtesy: Oregon State Athletics)
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