On Tuesday, Big Ten baseball honors were announced and Rutgers was well represented. Ryan Lasko and Chrisitan Coppola earned First Team All-Big Ten honors. Chris Brito was named a Second Team All-Big Ten selection. Drew Conover, Ben Gorski and Evan Sleight made Third Team All-Big Ten. Coppola was joined by Trevor Cohen. In addition, Andy Axelson was named the Sportsmanship award winner for Rutgers.
Lasko became the first Scarlet Knight to earn First Team All-Big Ten honors multiple times after being selected last season as well. The pro prospect led Rutgers with a team-best .332 batting average, 32 extra-base hits, 73 hits, and 58 runs scored. He also had 11 home runs and 52 RBIs.
Coppola was dominant as the Friday starter once he moved into the role midseason. He became the first true freshman for Rutgers to be named a First Team All-Big Ten selection. Coppola had the league’s second best ERA among starters at 3.60 and had a Big Ten high 13 strikeouts in a single game.
On the way to becoming the program’s all-time leader in home runs and RBIs, Brito finished with a .308 batting average while leading Rutgers with 14 home runs, 55 RBIs and a 1.029 OPS.
Conover finished with a 5-4 record and 4.50 ERA while leading Rutgers with 64.0 inning pitched along with 79 strikeouts. The Seton Hall transfer has settled nicely into the No. 2 starter role and gives RU two power pitchers at the front of the rotation.
Gorski emerged as the team’s closer and finished with 2.77 ERA in 39.0 innings along with 46 strikeouts and 8 saves.
Evan Sleight made All-Big Ten for the first time in his third season as a full-time starting outfielder for Rutgers. He set career highs of 12 home runs, 13 doubles, 51 runs scored along with 32 walks.
Outfielder Trevor Cohen had a strong debut season in starting all 54 games for Rutgers. He finished with .288 batting average and was second in the Big Ten in striking out just once every 9.6 plate appearances. Cohen also had 61 hits and 33 RBIs.
Rutgers baseball has earned the No. 5 seed and will take on No. 4 seed Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament At Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. Although the conference postseason tourney begins on Tuesday, RU will face the Huskers on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET. The game will air live on the Big Ten Network.
Thanks for reading the The Scarlet Faithful. For more Rutgers Athletics content from The Scarlet Faithful, follow us on Twitter and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can subscribe to The Scarlet Faithful podcast on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. For advertising inquiries or to reach out directly, email at breitmanaaron@gmail.com
