Beavers Drop 1-0 Heartbreaker To Stanford

In the series opener against the Stanford, Oregon State baseball got an incredible performance from starting pitcher Cooper Hjerpe. Unfortunately for the Beavers they couldn’t capitalize on Hjerpe’s game, falling to the Cardinal 1-0 in extra innings. The Beavers drop to 19-6 overall, and 6-4 in conference play.

So about that game from Hjerpe. He struck out 17 batters over the course of 8 innings pitched, while only allowing two hits and one walk. He faced 27 batters, and only 10 didn’t walk away from home plate disappointed. Of the 24 outs during his time on the mound, only 7 didn’t come from Hjerpe strikeouts. It was an absolutely dominant performance tied an Oregon State record for strikeouts in a single game.

Stanford’s pitching just about matched Hjerpe’s performance. The Beavers got a few more hits against starter Alex Williams, who allowed 6 hits and walked 2 batters, but couldn’t turn any opportunities into runs. Their best opportunity came in the bottom of the seventh, when three singles from Matthew Gretler, Kyle Dernedde and Wade Meckler loaded the bases. Unfortunately, Justin Boyd followed that by striking out, snuffing the Beavers’ chances.

With both sides failing to get a run in the first nine innings, we headed to the 10th. Reid Sebby came in as relief in the ninth inning, and couldn’t quite match Hjerpe’s efforts. Stanford finally broke the tie in the top of the 10th, with a pair of doubles from Kody Huff and Braden Montgomery giving them one run. That was all they needed, as the Beavers went three up three down in the bottom of the inning.

Game 2 between the Beavers and Cardinal is set for Saturday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 PM PT.