PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Coming off a .571/.667/.714 weekend in the series win over Illinois, Rutgers baseball's Evan Sleight was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Tuesday. The outfielder becomes the fourth different Scarlet Knight to earn the honor in 2021. In addition, it marks RU's seventh Big Ten weekly award of the season to match the number gained the previous six years combined in the conference.
 
Sleight went 3-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt for his third three-hit game of the season in the Friday win. Then in the rubber game, the outfielder scored after a walk and later delivered a two-out RBI double to pad the lead. He went 4-for-7 with two walks and two runs overall in the series.


 
Sleight finished his first collegiate season with 40 hits, 10 multiple-hit games, four homers and 27 RBIs. The Framingham, Massachusetts, native played in 41 games with 38 starts in the outfield. His first collegiate hit was a grand slam at Minnesota, also belting a slam in the comeback win over Iowa.
 
Rutgers is the first team to collect six Freshman of the Week awards in the same year since Big Ten baseball expanded to 13 teams in 2015, and first Big Ten team with six such honors in a season since 2013 (Michigan).
 
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.

Sleight delivers a two-out RBI double to score Brito from first!

B3 | Rutgers 4, Illinois 2 pic.twitter.com/n1g00XiUjJ

— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) May 29, 2021

2021 Rutgers Baseball Big Ten Weekly Awards
March 16: Josh Rodriguez (Freshman)
March 30: Ryan Lasko (Freshman)
April 7: Jordan Sweeney (Freshman)
April 13: Ryan Lasko (Freshman)
April 20: Ryan Lasko (Freshman)
May 4: Brent Teller (Pitcher)
June 1: Evan Sleight (Freshman)
 
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