THE SCHEDULE
Saturday's lid-lifter between San Jose State and Creighton is set for a 4:00 p.m. (CT) first pitch and the contest will be televised by Nebraska Educational Television with Larry Punteney and John Bishop on the call.
The final two games of the non-conference series will be streamed live on YouTube. Sunday's meeting will start at 4:00 p.m. (CT) and Monday's matchup is set for 1:00 p.m. (CT) first pitch.
AN SJSU WIN WOULD (GAME 1)
> Give the program four victories in its last five games against power conference opponents.
> Mark the first victory in program history in the city of Omaha.
> Be better than a loss.
IDENTIFYING THE BLUEJAYS
Creighton enters this weekend's series playing as well as any team in the nation. The Bluejays have won five consecutive contests, outscoring their opponents 42-11 in that stretch.
San Jose State is 2-1 all-time against Creighton, taking a three-game series a year ago at Excite Ballpark. The programs have never met at TD Ameritrade Park, where the Bluejays own a 5-0 record on the season.
BACK HOME IN OMAHA
The trip to Omaha will mark the program's first in 21 years. SJSU's only previous trip came in the 2000 College World Series, playing in a pair of games at Rosenblatt Stadium.
Spartan head coach Brad Sanfilippo made a trip to the College World Series and TD Ameritrade Park in 2011 as an assistant coach with California. In addition, pitching coordinator Seth Moir made a pair of trips to Omaha in 2012 and 2013 (won national title) as UCLA's Director of Baseball Operations.
SINGLES
> San Jose State holds the overall series lead against Creighton at 2-1 after taking a pair from the Bluejays a year ago.
> Spencer Long is off to a sensational start to his senior season in San Jose, earning a win in both of his starts on the mound while tallying eight strikeouts.
> Robert Hamchuk ranks No. 11 nationally and is first in the Mountain West in on-base percentage (.528) as the month of April continues.
> The Spartans have proved to be one of the nation's top three-bag teams early on this season, ranking No. 25 in all of Division I in triples per game (0.38).
BIG ERNT ENERGY
In last month's historic victory over California, sophomore Trevor Ernt became the first Spartan to go six-plus innings out of the bullpen since May 4, 2016 (Zach Wallace vs. Grand Canyon). Ernt was tremendous in relief, earning the first win of his career after allowing just one run and striking out eight in six innings of work.
SCORING ON SAN DIEGO STATE
San Jose State scored 20 runs in its season-opening series against first-place San Diego State, marking the most runs allowed by the Aztecs in a league series since May 10-12, 2019.
NOT BAD FOR STARTERS
The Spartans scored 12 runs in their Opening Day victory over San Diego State. The explosion marked the program's first double-digit run total in an Opening Day game since Feb. 20, 2009 (15-5 vs. Saint Joseph's).
TRANSFER OF POWER
The Spartans welcomed in a quintet of Division I transfers this offseason to help bolster the 2021 roster. None has made a bigger impact than Washington State transfer Nelson Padilla, who has notched a team-leading eight RBI while hitting .259 at the dish.
GOING STREAKING
Freshman Kai Saterstrom soars into Omaha as the team's hottest hitter. Saterstrom currently owns a three-game hitting streak, the longest of his short collegiate career.
Jack Colette, Robert Hamchuk and Ruben Ibarra each notched six-game hit streaks earlier in the 2021 campaign. Those mark the team's longest of the season.
NEW FACES ON THE BENCH
While head coach Brad Sanfilippo and assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Thomas Walker are both back from the 2020 campaign, SJSU did add a pair of new faces to the coaching staff.
Seth Moir is now the program's pitching coordinator after spending the last four years in the Minnesota Twins scouting department. Prior to joining the Twins organization, Moir served as the Director of Baseball Operations at UCLA and won a national championship with the Bruins in 2013.
Director of Player Development Andre Mercurio has also joined the crew. Mercurio played for the Florence Y'alls of the Frontier League in each of the last four seasons, joining the Y'alls after graduating from San Jose State in 2015. Mercurio shined both in the outfield and in the classroom in his playing days with the Spartans, receiving 2012 Academic All-WAC honors before being named to the 2013 All-WAC team.
SOCIAL MEDIA
The baseball program can be found on both Twitter (@SanJoseStateBSB) and Instagram (@sjsubaseball).