PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Posting three homers in the series win at Northwestern,
Ryan Lasko earned his second Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, the league announced Tuesday. Rutgers baseball has won four Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolades in the first six weeks of the season, and three in a row. The team had collected three such honors in the first six years in the conference.
"
Ryan Lasko is a stud. We said that early on," head coach
Steve Owens said. "He's going to have ups and downs. He's dynamic, he's high-strung and his energy and excitement levels are off the charts. A very athletic player, and when he's in a good place and playing even-keeled, he's special. Ryan has done some stuff that I don't know if I've had another freshman do what he's done offensively against elite pitching as well as in the outfield. We're very happy for him and he'll continue to work hard and get better. A very exciting player."
In Sunday's rubber game against the Wildcats, Lasko homered to left and right field to give the Scarlet Knights a 3-0 lead. He later drew two walks and stole a base. The outfielder made a diving catch in centerfield to compliment two hits, a run and a stolen base offensively in the Saturday win. Lasko also had two hits in the series opener, including a two-run homer to make it a one-run game in the eighth inning.
For the season, Lasko, who has a pair of multiple-homer games, leads all Big Ten freshman with six long balls. He is hitting .323 with a .389 on-base percentage and a .662 slugging percentage.
Jordan Sweeney collected Big Ten Freshman of the Week most recently on
April 7, with Lasko previously taking the honor on
March 30 and
Josh Rodriguez on
March 16.
Rutgers won its third series in four weekends over Northwestern with an 8-4 victory on
Saturday and a 6-5 triumph in 10 innings on
Sunday. The Scarlet Knights are up to 11 wins, the most for the program in a Big Ten season since joining the conference.
RU (11-9) is back at Bainton Field this weekend to host Iowa (12-9) in a four-game series. Watch on Big Ten Network+ or listen on WRSU 88.7-FM. 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 (April 13)
PL: Shawn Goosenberg, Jr., NU
P: Braydon Tucker, So., IND
F:
Ryan Lasko, Fr., RU
Follow Rutgers Athletics on
Facebook and Twitter
(@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding baseball, follow the program on Twitter (
@RutgersBaseball), Instagram
(@rutgersbaseball) and Facebook (
/BaseballRU). For additional updates, please download the Scarlet Knights App via the
app store or
play store.
