Oregon State edges Vanderbilt 7-6 to win Corvallis Regional

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Matthew Gretler hit a go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, Cooper Hjerpe pitched around a leadoff walk in the ninth and No. 3 overall seed Oregon State edged Vanderbilt 7-6 on Monday to win the Corvallis Regional and earn a berth in the super regionals.

Oregon State will host Auburn in the best-of-three super regionals starting on Friday.

Gretler’s one-out homer came on a 2-2 pitch from Grayson Moore (1-1) after the Commodores got a sacrifice fly from Calvin Hewett in the top of the inning to tie the game.

Hjerpe pitched the final two innings — striking out five — for his first save of the season. He walked Javier Vaz to open the ninth and Vaz took second on Spencer Jones’ tapper back to the mound. But Hjerpe struck out clean-up hitter Dominic Keegan looking and Matthew Polk swinging to end the game.

Justin Boyd led off the bottom of the first with a home run to give Oregon State (47-16) an early lead. Jones hit a two-run shot in the top of the fourth to put Vanderbilt up 2-1, but the Beavers pulled even in the bottom of the inning on Kyle Demedde’s run-scoring single.

Vanderbilt took a 3-2 lead in the fifth without the benefit of a hit. Enrique Bradfield Jr. walked with one out and stole second. Vaz was hit by a pitch and Bradfield scored when Beavers catcher Gavin Logan threw the ball away on a double steal. Oregon State answered with Jacob Melton’s two-run homer and a two-run single by Demedde for a 6-3 lead.

The Commodores (39-23) scored two unearned runs in the sixth to pull within 6-5. Bradfield drove in the second run with a two-out single after a fielding error by Demedde kept the inning alive.

Vanderbilt went 3-2 in the regional and beat the Beavers 8-1 on Sunday to force a second game.