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.
 
"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.
 
In addition, he collected 12 putouts in the outfield in the series.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.

Lasko again!

Freshman hits one to the street for his second homer of the game.

T3 | Rutgers 3, Purdue 0 pic.twitter.com/i908x6wVVo

— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) March 26, 2021

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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