CORVALLIS — The chants came near the end of the sixth inning on Sunday, when Oregon State ace Cooper Hjerpe left the Goss Stadium mound for the last time and strolled to the dugout.
After watching him grit his way through a gutsy performance in a do-or-die game, the standing-room only crowd wanted one last look at the Beavers’ electric left-hander, one last chance to recognize an incredible season and career.
“COO-PER! HJERP-EE!” they shouted repeatedly, clapping in between. “COO-PER! HJERP-EE!”
Finally, Hjerpe emerged from the dugout to acknowledge the roar, raising his OSU cap with his right hand while gazing toward all corners of the stadium, soaking in a well-deserved curtain call.
Roughly 24 hours after coaches told him he was too sick to play, Hjerpe delivered one of the most memorable and important performances of his career, helping Oregon State defeat the Auburn Tigers 4-3 to stave off elimination and force a winner-take-all Game 3 in the Corvallis Super Regional. The teams will play Monday at 4:30 p.m. for a berth to the College World Series.
“He emptied his tank today,” OSU coach Mitch Canham said. “He gave everything. Having everyone chant his name and for him to go back out there for what I’d say is his last start here at Goss, that was a very special moment and he’s going to remember that for the rest of his life.”
Really, it was an unforgettable 48 hours. On Saturday, about two hours before the first pitch of the Beavers’ series-opener, Hjerpe was in the early stages of his pregame workout when Canham approached with sobering news. He was shutting his ace down and sending him home to recover. The following morning, with the Beavers facing elimination after a Game 1 defeat, Hjerpe awoke and delivered a message of his own to his coach:
“I’m taking the ball.”
Hjerpe took the ball and then some Sunday, powering through sickness to shut down a red-hot offense that had scored 58 runs in its previous four games. The 6-foot-3 sophomore retired the first eight batters he faced, striking out four of the first five, and took a no-hitter into the fourth inning. He went on to pitch 5 2/3 electric innings, striking out six and allowing three hits and three earned runs. Hjerpe ran into trouble in just one inning — the fourth — when he gave up three hits and two runs, the second coming when he uncorked a wild pitch to the backstop to score a runner from third.
But otherwise, he was dominant, using all four of his pitches, working down in the zone and firing strikes over the inside corner. He was finally pulled in the sixth after surrendering a five-pitch, two-out walk. The Beavers sent a trainer out to evaluate Hjerpe following the at-bat, but Canham said the visit was related to Hjerpe’s sickness and not any type of injury.
“A bit fatigued,” Canham said. “You could see it a little bit. He was really battling. But his body’s good. It wasn’t anything to be worried about. To go out there and do what he did today was extremely impressive.”
Fittingly, the inspiring performance was also record-setting. Hjerpe’s six strikeouts set the Oregon State single-season record with 161 and moved him into fifth place on the Beavers’ career list with 275. He also improved to 11-2 this season, strengthening his case for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy, given annually to the best players in the country. He’s a finalist for both awards.
Hjerpe was too sick to speak to reporters after the game, according to school officials, but his teammates said enough.
“He went out there and showed why he’s possibly the best pitcher in the country,” Travis Bazzana said.
Of course, Hjerpe had plenty of help from Bazzana and his teammates. Jacob Melton and Bazzana hit solo home runs in the top of the fourth inning to give the Beavers a 2-0 lead. Then, after Auburn answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fourth, Oregon State added runs in the fifth and sixth with a little small ball.
In the fifth, Matthew Gretler ripped a leadoff single to right-center and later scored on a pair of bunts. Kyle Dernedde laid the first down to sacrifice Gretler to second base and then Justin Boyd laid another down for a base hit. Auburn reliever Chase Allsup fielded Boyd’s bunt along the third-base line, twirled and tossed the ball into right field, sending Gretler home and Boyd to third base. The result was a 3-2 Oregon State lead.
An inning later, Bazzana drew a two-out walk, edged off the bag with a walking lead before Allsup’s next pitch, and took off so early that he drew a throw to second base. But the Tigers’ middle infield didn’t cover the bag and Allsup heaved the ball into center field, sending Bazzana all the way to third. On the next pitch, Jake Dukart ripped an RBI single to left-center to give the Beavers a 4-2 edge.
Hjerpe was pulled the following inning for lock-down reliever Ben Ferrer, and the right-hander mowed through the Tigers’ dangerous lineup the rest of the way, striking out three and allowing just two hits over the final 3 1/3 innings. Ferrer, who is 4-0 with a 1.64 ERA, earned his third save of the season.
The Beavers out-hit Auburn nine to five, but could never put together that one big inning to blow the game open, in part because the Tigers’ outfield made a trio of spectacular defensive plays. Left fielder Mike Bello and center fielder Kason Howell made highlight-reel diving catches in the fourth to thwart a big Beavers inning and Bobby Peirce threw out Gretler at the plate in the ninth with an incredible one-hop throw from right field.
“In some ways, we fought to keep the game close,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “I thought (Oregon State) could have run off and left us a couple of times tonight.”
Instead, the third-seeded Beavers (48-17) leaned on the dominant relief pitching of Ferrer — and a memorable final Goss outing from Hjerpe — to avoid elimination and force a winner-take-all Game 3 against the 14th-seed Tigers (41-20) on Monday.
As Hjerpe left the mound and walked down the steps of the dugout Sunday night for the final time, he exchanged high-fives and hugs with teammates and fist-bumped Canham. Then Hjerpe rose for that curtain call, tipping his cap in a memorable moment that won’t soon be forgotten.
“Moments like this are the reason Goss and Corvallis as a whole are so special,” Hjerpe wrote early Monday morning on Twitter. “This is a moment I will remember for the rest of my life. Thank you to all of Beaver Nation for having my back no matter what. Let’s do it again tomorrow!”
— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories
