Yale Coach John Stuper Praises Heimlich and OSU, Cracks Up Press Room

On Saturday night, Oregon State moved to 2-0 in the postseason with a blowout win over Yale at Goss Stadium. Fortunately for Yale, their head coach seemed to take the loss in stride. Former Saint Louis Cardinal John Stuper opened his post game presser with high praise for Luke Heimlich

“I'm sure this joke has been used before, but I feel like I need a Heimlich maneuver right now. The kid is legitimate. I've been here 25 years, I pitched in the big leagues, he's the best pitcher I've seen in college baseball.”

Stuper went on to praise the OSU team as a whole.

“You don't go 51-4 by accident. I could not have been more impressed with the Oregon State team as far as the way they go about their business. No BS, no histrionics like we see in the big leagues now. [They] Just play hard, play the right way, and that's a tribute to Pat, obviously.”

The complimenting of Heimlich’s ability didn’t stop there. He stated that he thought Heimlich could not only be top of the pitching rotation for a Major League team, but he could make a team by the end of this current season. He even compared him to some of the better leftys in the history of the sport.

“I think he has a real good chance to be a top of the rotation guy in the big leagues. And I'm hard to impress. If you asked me if I had seen a better left hander, I'd say yeah I have: [Clayton] Kershaw, [Steve] Carlton, Sandy Kofax...but seriously he's just outstanding.”

To close out the night, Stuper was both optimistic and sarcastic about the idea of facing Oregon State again, should Yale beat Holy Cross on Sunday afternoon.

“We're going to battle like crazy to play these guys again and I know [Heimlich] ain't pitching. If we're fortunate enough, they may have a guy pitch against us who has an ERA. Their bullpen's kinda weak because they've got guys with ERAs like 1.8 and 2 and stuff. I don't know why Pat even allows them on the team.

I must be a sadist for wanting to play them again. But I want to play them again.”

Regardless of who their opponent is, Oregon State is set to play their first game of the regional final Sunday night at 7 PM PT.

You can hear Stuper’s complete audio in the post below.