PISCATAWAY, N.J. – After posting a .302/.396/.527 slash line in starting all 44 games for Rutgers baseball, Chris Brito earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Third Team in a vote of the league's coaches. Ryan Lasko merited selection to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team and Kyle Muller claimed the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.


 
Brito finished the season reaching base safely in each of the last 17 games after boarding in the first 15 to start the year. The Perth Amboy, New Jersey, native led the Scarlet Knights with a .923 OPS, 33 runs scored, 43 RBIs, 89 total bases, a .527 slugging percentage and 23 walks drawn. He also hit a team-best 19-for-52 (.365) with runners in scoring position with 21 RBIs with two outs, blasting 10 homers and collecting 13 multiple-hit games and nine contests with two or more runs driven in. In addition, he was named to Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the Week list on March 15 after hitting 9-for-18 in the four-game series at Maryland with nine RBIs, four homers and five runs scored.
 
Defensively, Brito moved to third base and totaled 75 assists. He is the first Rutgers third baseman to garner all-conference status since Patrick Kivlehan (first team) in the Big East in 2012.


 
Lasko clubbed 11 homers to lead all Big Ten freshmen in becoming the first Scarlet Knight to reach double figures since Kivlehan in 2012, with the most long balls by an RU freshman since Jeff Frazier in 2002. The Jackson, New Jersey, native slugged .474 overall with 36 hits, 28 runs, 22 walks and 30 RBIs. A three-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week winner, he banged two homers in victories at Purdue and Northwestern, and tied the team-high with nine games driving in multiple runs. Lasko, who started in all three outfield spots, also impacted the game defensively with 122 putouts.
 
Lasko joins Danny DiGeorgio (2018) and Jawuan Harris (2016) as Rutgers rookies to make the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.
 
Lasko and Brito are the first set of Rutgers teammates with double-figure homers since Pat Biserta and Michael Lang achieved the feat in 2010.


 
Muller is the Rutgers recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award for distinguished sportsmanship, ethical behavior and  good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. A graduate student in the Global Sports Business program, he recently earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for the second time after posting a perfect 4.0 GPA during the 2020-21 academic year, also previously being a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. On the field, the right-handed pitcher appeared in a team-high 19 games. That included a start of four hitless and scoreless innings at Penn State. The Hamilton, New Jersey, native recorded a 1.11 WHIP in 21.2 innings with 19 strikeouts and a .207 batting average against, earning saves at Northwestern and Maryland.
 
The Scarlet Knights finished 21-23 in playing a conference-only schedule to secure the program's best placement (eighth) and winning percentage (.477) in Big Ten play since joining the conference. That included a 6-4-1 record in series of at least three games and a win over every other team in the league.

Click here for the full Big Ten postseason honors press release.
 
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