LINCOLN, Neb. (April 8, 2022) – The Rutgers baseball team (23-6, 6-1 Big Ten) won its eighth straight game on Friday night, going on the road and beating Nebraska (12-16, 4-3) by a score of 7-5 in the series opener.
 
Ryan Lasko got the party started in the top of the first, taking a pitch the other way for a solo home run to right field and putting RU up 1-0. It was the first leadoff home run for Rutgers in a game since Mike Carter on 4/26/17 against Columbia.
 
Jared Kollar got the start and had to work around trouble in the bottom of the first. He would issue four walks in the frame and allow Nebraska to score its first run on a wild pitch. Kollar did settle down and got a popout and groundout to get out of the inning with just 1 run surrendered.
 
Kollar seized control after that, retiring a streak of 13 straight Cornhuskers, working in five strikeouts. He did give up another run on a pair of two-out hits, but would wind up with yet another quality start and earned the win, going 6.0 innings, allowing 2 runs on two hits with five strikeouts.
 
"He just was a little off early. It takes a lot of courage to fight through that, then rectify it and keep it at one run and then to pitch six innings." head coach Steve Owens said of Kollar's performance.  
"It doesn't always go perfect as a starter. You have got to figure out a way to stay out there and he did a great job for his team."
 
He got insurance in the third inning, when Nick Cimillo singled into left field to score Mike Nyisztor and make it 2-0. Two innings later, Cimillo gave Kollar even more breathing room when he demolished a 2-run home run to make it 4-1.
 
Although the Cornhuskers would cut into the lead with a run, the Scarlet Knights blew it open in the sixth. After a Mike Nyisztor RBI double, Lasko hit his second home run of the game, this one to a 2-run shot to right-center field to make it a 7-2 lead for Rutgers.
 
Sam Bello would toss scoreless seventh and eighth innings but had to make way for Dale Stanavich after putting two runners on base in the ninth. Stanavich hit the first batter he faced, before getting a strikeout. With 2 outs, a bases-clearing double made things interesting. However, Stanavich struck the next batter out looking to seal the win.
 
 
"I'm just pleased with our guys," Owens said. "They handled the atmosphere. They played a good game. We got 10 hits on a Friday with five extra-base hits and we came up with a big team win."
 

SCORING

 

UP NEXT

Game two of the series between Rutgers and Nebraska is set for tomorrow, Saturday, at 4:15 p.m. EST on the Big Ten Network.
 
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