THE SCHEDULE
This weekend's series between San Jose State and Air Force will get underway at 11:00 a.m. (MT) on Friday morning. The two teams will play a doubleheader beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday and the series finale is slated for a 12:00 p.m. start on Sunday afternoon.
Each game of the series will be televised on the Mountain West Network.
AN SJSU WIN WOULD (GAME 1)
> Improve head coach Brad Sanfilippo's record to 8-5 against Air Force
> Keep the Spartans undefeated in Friday games this season
> Be better than a loss
SINGLES
> San Jose State recently earned back-to-back Pitcher of the Week nods from the Mountain West with both Trevor Ernt (Apr. 26) and Jonathan Clark (May 3) garnering the awards.
>The awards in back-to-back weeks marked a first for the program since Andrew Mitchel and Fineas Del Bonta-Smith were honored on Mar. 11 and Mar. 18, 2019.
> Junior Ruben Ibarra leads the Mountain West and is ranked No. 9 in all of Division I in home runs per game at an average of 0.39.
> San Jose State has been one of the nation's top double teams this season and enters the weekend ranked No. 54 nationally with 0.79 doubles per game.
FOCUSING ON THE FALCONS
Air Force enters the weekend with a record of 20-18 and are 12-12 in Mountain West play. The club has won four straight games and most recently swept its series against New Mexico.
San Jose State is 19-22 all-time against Air Force with its last win coming on May 16, 2019 (8-7 at Falcon Baseball Field).
FLIP VS. THE FALCONS
The Spartans are 7-5 against Air Force since head coach Brad Sanfilippo took over at the helm in San Jose. Included in that stretch was a series sweep of the Falcons on the final weekend of the regular season in 2018.
IB-BAR-AH
Ruben Ibarra homered in each of his first three games against Fresno State last month, becoming the first Spartan in 12 years to hit a home run in at least three consecutive games. Corey Valine was the last one to accomplish the feat, going big fly in four straight contests (at Sacramento State, at Stanford, at New Mexico State, at New Mexico State) from May 3-9, 2009.
MORE RUBEN
No one in the Mountain West is slugging at a better rate than Ibarra as of late. The junior has now homered in eight of his last 14 games and ranks No. 3 in all of Division I with a slugging percentage of .806.
MCADOO MASHING
Freshman Charles McAdoo is off to a red-hot start this month, going 6-for-15 at the plate in the month of May. In that stretch, McAdoo has tallied nine RBI and launched the first two home runs of his career at San Diego State and at No. 10 Stanford.
BATS HAVE BEEN HOT
San José State totaled double-digit runs in back-to-back games earlier this month at UC Davis and at California, marking the first time the program has accomplished the feat since April of 2018 (won 15-7 and 10-7 at Fresno State).
CLARK'S ELEVEN
Junior Jonathan Clark tallied 11 strikeouts at Creighton earlier this month, the most for a Spartan against a power conference opponent since Apr. 16, 2015 (Turtle Kuhaulua, 11 vs. Washington State). The total marked the program's most in any game since Apr. 5, 2019 (Andrew Mitchel, 11 vs. New Mexico).
BIG ERNT ENERGY
Making his first start of the season, sophomore Trevor Ernt notched his second eight-strikeout outing of the year last month against Fresno State. Ernt now has two eight-K performances on the 2021 campaign.
MORE ERNT
In March's historic victory over California, 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.
EXTRA, EXTRA
Last week's 14-11 victory over UC Davis in 11 innings marked the program's first extra-inning victory since May 13, 2018 (6-4 at San Diego State in 10 innings).
SCORING ON SDSU
San Jose State scored 20 runs in its season-opening series against San Diego State, marking the most runs allowed by the Aztecs in a league series since May 10-12, 2019.