SAN DIEGO – San Diego State's Jake Jackson was named Mountain West Freshman of the Week for the third time this season following his performance in the Aztecs' conference series against Air Force, May 10-12, at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The announcement was made Monday at the league office in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Jackson's award gives SDSU 12 Mountain West weekly honors this year, joining Colby Turner, who received Freshman of the Week recognition on five occasions (Feb. 26, March 4, March 18, April 1, April 8), while Jacob McCombs (April 15) and Zane Kelly (May 6) garnered the same accolade as well.
In addition, Jacob Riordan (April 1) and Omar Serrano (May 6) merited MW Pitcher of the Week acclaim earlier this season. Jackson, meanwhile, collected his two previous conference Freshman of the Week certificates on Feb. 18 and April 15.
Jackson was the hero of the Aztecs' 8-4 triumph over Air Force on Sunday, belting his first career grand slam in the seventh to break a 3-3 tie, as the Scarlet and Black salvaged the finale of a weekend series and snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Falcons, who were denied the opportunity to forge a three-way to for first in the Mountain West standings with Fresno State and New Mexico.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Jackson crushed an 0-2 pitch over the fence just to the left of straight-away center field, as the Aztec dugout erupted in jubilation.
Jackson led SDSU with six RBIs and a .636 slugging percentage for the series, recording his 13th game with multiple hits on Friday thanks to a 2-for-4 effort at the plate when he also contributed a sacrifice fly.
The San Diego native and Madison High School alumnus also added an RBI groundout in Saturday's contest to go with a spectacular diving catch along the left-field line that helped prevent a big Falcon inning.
For the season, Jackson has started 38 of 43 games and is currently slotted second on the team with a .288 batting average, 30 RBIs and five stolen bases. He also ranks among the Aztec leaders in several additional categories, including hits (T-3rd, 42), doubles (T-3rd, 9), slugging percentage (4th, .418), runs scored (4th) and on-base percentage (5th, .340).
Jackson and the Aztecs will be back in action on Tuesday, May 14, when they battle UC San Diego at Tony Gwynn Stadium to close out their 2024 home schedule. The SDSU-UCSD clash will air live on the Mountain West Network at 5 p.m. PT, and the first 250 fans will receive a free Aztec foam finger.