COLUMBUS, Ohio (April 30, 2022) – The No. 24 Rutgers baseball team used three home runs from
Ryan Lasko and another strong day pitching and defensively to beat Ohio State 13-3 on Saturday afternoon and clinch the weekend series.Â
Nate Florence pitched 5.0 strong innings to earn the win, while
Nick Cimillo and
Richie Schiekofer also added home runs to lead RU to the win and help the team improve to 35-9 overall and 14-3 in the Big Ten.Â
"
Ryan Lasko played incredible today," head coach
Steve Owens said. "We needed those hits because it was a 1-run game in the middle of the game. The grand slam gave us breathing room we needed. And then we were able to get a few more extra-base hits and extend the lead."
For the second straight day, the Scarlet Knights put a run on the board in the top of the first.
Ryan Lasko led things off with a double and then scored when he attempted to steal third base and a throw went down the left field line.Â
From then on,
Nathan Florence would settle in and give Rutgers a big-time effort on the road. After yielding a leadoff double, Florence struck out the last two Buckeyes in the first before striking out the side in the third. Florence would go on to pitch 5.0+ innings, pitching into the sixth and giving up 2 runs. He struck out eight batters, walked just one and gave up four hits on the day.Â
"Nate was really good today. He struck out 9 in five innings wiht a really good fastball," Owens said. "He was really sharp and he was working ahead in counts, which is really encouraging."
While the Scarlet Knights led for the first 4+ innings, Ohio State evened the score at 1-1 with a sac fly in the fifth. In the top of the sixth, RU made two quick outs before going on a massive two-out rally.Â
Evan Sleight started things off with a walk, followed by Josh Kuroda-Grauer singling.
Mike Nyisztor then singled to center field to score Sleight and give Rutgers the lead.
Andy Axelson then drew a nine-pitch walk, setting the stage for
Ryan Lasko.Â
After drawing a full count on the Buckeye relief pitcher Lasko cranked a grand slam to center field, giving the Scarlet Knights a 6-1 lead and blowing the game open. RU loaded the bases again, leading to a
Tony Santa Maria 2-run single to give Rutgers an 8-1 advantage.Â
The Buckeyes got 2 runs back on a home run in the sixth, but
Sam Bello posted a zero in the seventh to set up another big inning for the offense.Â
Leading off the eighth was
Ryan Lasko, who promply launched his second home run of the game into the trees over the left field fence. Two batters later, with
Danny DiGeorgio on second,
Nick Cimillo destroyed a no-doubter to left-center field to make it an 11-3 lead. RU wasn't done, however, as
Richie Schiekofer took a pitch the other way and over the wall in left-center for his first home run of the season, giving the Scarlet Knights a 12-3 lead.
Lasko then led off the top of the ninth inning with another solo shot, his third home run of the game. He become the first Rutgers player with three home runs in a game since Jawuan Harris against USC Upstate on 3/25/17.
Rutgers will go for the sweep of the Buckeyes tomorrow at noon in Columbus.Â
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