PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Coming off a six-hit weekend with six RBIs, Rutgers baseball's
Ryan Lasko was selected as Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. The outfielder hit .429/.467/1.071 with five extra-base hits in the series win at Purdue.
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"Ryan had a good weekend," head coach
Steve Owens said. "He's an exciting player and we're having fun watching him do his thing. He is gaining confidence and valuable experience. A year ago, Ryan was facing high-school pitching and is now going against elite pitching in a very good conference and succeeding. The other parts of his game are exciting too. He's a fast runner, plays hard and has really good baseball instincts. He's maturing and we're happy with the direction he's headed."
Lasko started with a solo homer to left field as the second batter of the game on Friday. He followed that with a two-run shot even further to left in the third inning before adding a walk and single to reach 4-of-5 times in the 7-5 victory. On Sunday, Lasko became the first Scarlet Knight since Michael Lang in 2010 with three doubles in a game. He knocked in three runs and scored twice in the 15-4 rubber-game win.
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In addition, he collected 12 putouts in the outfield in the series.
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The Jackson, New Jersey, native was previously named Big Ten Preseason Freshman of the Year by
D1Baseball. He is hitting .325/.386/.650 in 12 games this season. The .650 slugging percentage ranks ninth in the league.
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The marks the second Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor for the Scarlet Knights in 2021.
Josh Rodriguez garnered the accolade on
March 16.
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Rutgers returns to Bainton Field this weekend to host Penn State in a three-game series starting Friday. The Scarlet Knights are 8-6, the best 14-game start to a Big Ten season since joining the conference.
All events at Rutgers Athletics venues operate in accordance with current statewide restrictions on gatherings. As a result, baseball games at this time are not open to the public.
Big Ten Weekly Awards (March 30)
PL: Shawn Goosenberg, Jr., NU
P: Cade Povich, Jr., NEB
F: Nick Powers, Fr., MSU
F:
Ryan Lasko, Fr., RU
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