OU pushing for postseason

 

By ANDREW GRIEVE

Contributing Reporter

The Oakland University baseball team can cancel any theme park-road trip plans they may have had.

The Grizzlies have been riding a roller coaster since the season started.

However, unlike a theme park’s, the Grizzlies roller coaster has featured victories, defeats, and everything in between this season.

Instead of looking forward to getting off, the Grizzlies are looking forward to extending their ride, in hopes of winning in the Summit League Championship Tournament on May 22.

However, the team won’t be taking a breather anytime soon, as they’ve been working very hard during their series of doubleheaders with IPFW, reigning victorious in three out of four contests.

The midcons haven’t stopped there, either, as they have been currently facing off against Oral Roberts in a Summit League series in Tulsa, Okla.

Previous to the Tulsa trip, the team faced Toledo on May 7 in a one-off game originally meant as a doubleheader (cancelled due to rain) at home and ran into a brick wall, losing out to the away team by a score of 19-4.

The brick walls became even thicker  as the team entered the Oral Roberts series on Friday. The Grizzlies lost the first game by a score of 7-2, despite a 2-2 day from freshman catcher Ryan Waldhart. When the doubleheader came in on Saturday, the team fared only as well as they did the first time around, losing both games to ORU. The Grizzlies failed in their quest to split the series, dropping the final game to the Golden Eagles by a score of 11-0.

After this set of games, the team will play a one-off game against Eastern Michigan, at the OU Baseball field May 13, then play the team’s final series before the Summit League tournament opener on May 22 against Southern Utah. This time, home field advantage is on their side.

Meanwhile, junior Rob Merkle recently received the honor of being named to ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA’s Academic All-District Team, for his strong presence in the classroom and on the diamond.