Aaron Wick earns multiple weekly honors

After throwing the first nine-inning shutout in Oakland University baseball’s Division I history, senior Aaron Wick has been named Summit League Pitcher of the Week as well as OU Student-Athlete of the Week.

In a March 29 contest against Western Michigan, Wick (2-3) gave up eight hits, no runs and tied his career-high with eight strikeouts in a 4-0 win over the Broncos. The victory was the first-ever shutout of WMU by the Grizzlies.

Wick is leading the pitching staff with 24 strikeouts this season and holding opposing batters to a .285 average.

Wick is also producing at the plate with a .321 average in 13 games.

Records fall at Toledo Collegiate Challenge

Several records were broken or set by the Oakland University women’s track and field teams at the Toledo Collegiate Challenge on April 2.

Junior Lia Jones won the 5000-meter race with a school-record time of 17:05.80, and senior teammate Kelsey Carmean finished with a time of 17:40.93 to land in second place.

Junior Desiree Pettiford became just the third OU runner to finish the 400-meter dash in under a minute, with a record-tying time of 59.78 seconds.

Besides the track records, Oakland athletes also broke records in the field.

Junior Shannon Getchen set a school record in the hammer throw with a toss of 130 feet and 10 inches; Katelynne Hartman eclipsed the previous shot put mark with a heave of 36 feet and three inches, and Kara Lotan set a record of 103 feet and seven inches in the javelin.

Women’s lacrosse splits southwest road trip

The No. 14 Oakland University women’s lacrosse team traveled to the Lonestar Showdown in Austin, Texas over the weekend and returned home with a 2-2 record to show for its efforts.

The Grizzlies opened the Showdown with a 10-9 loss to Southern Methodist University – ranked third in all of Division II. It was the second consecutive year the Grizzlies lost a close game to the Mustangs. Last season, Oakland lost a heartbreaker, 17-16, in the National Championship quarterfinals, and the team had used the loss as motivation for this season.

The Grizzlies rebounded to earn close victories in their next two games, defeating the University of Arizona 8-7 and Texas A&M 12-11.

The final game of the Showdown, however, ended quickly for the Grizzlies, as the University of Texas, ranked No. 11 in Division I, raced out to a 13-0 halftime lead on its way to a 17-1 victory.

OU closes out its regular season with games against Michigan State on April 7 and Grand Valley State on April 10.

Tennis wraps up league play

With a 6-1 loss to UMKC on April 2, the OU women’s tennis team finished its regular season conference schedule with a 4-4 record against Summit League opponents.

After falling 4-1 to Southern Utah on March 31, Oakland swept South Dakota St. 4-0 behind freshman Grace Keating’s victory in singles play and senior Jackie Dinicu’s match-clinching, three-set win over SDSU’s Bryna Nasenbeny, the reigning Summit League Player of the Week.

The Grizzlies will finish their regular season schedule with two matches at home against Milwaukee and Valparaiso April 8 -9.