Austin Jones couldn't help himself. After hitting his fourth home run in a game at Air Force on May 1, the Utah first baseman was unable to mask his emotions.

"I got a big smile on my face. I couldn't do anything else but smile when I was running around the bases," said Jones. "I kind of felt like a rookie, just smiling and stuff. You can't do anything but smile when that happens."

The senior from Boise set a new school record for home runs in a game and equaled the top performance in Mountain West Conference history.

Jones, who wound up driving in nine runs that day, was later named National Player of the Week by the College Baseball Newspaper.

Although New Mexico's Brian Cavaos-Galvez did it last season, hitting four homers in a game is a rare accomplishment — extremely rare.

Utah coach Bill Kinneberg, whose managerial career began in 1980, doesn't recall being involved in any other game where someone had done it.

"That's a great feat," said Kinneberg. "He hit the ball hard."

Home runs, he added, are the product of a good swing.

Even so, Jones insists he wasn't swinging for the fence on that cold, windy day in Colorado.

"I really wasn't thinking about it," said Jones. "I wasn't trying to hit any out."

Getting four to leave the yard, he added, "was amazing."

Each of the blasts has its own story.

The first one came off a fastball.

"I just threw my hands on it — trying to just get a base hit," said Jones. "It just happened to go out pretty hard."

His second homer was a grand slam. It came after two strikes on a hung curveball over the middle.

"I was just trying to get it to the outfield and score a run," said Jones. "I just happened to put another one out."

The third homer also came with two strikes. This time it was a fastball over the center of the plate.

"It went out again," he said.

After getting teased by his teammates about hitting a fourth homer, Jones made it happen on the second pitch. He said the Air Force pitcher's first throw was away. The next one was inside.

"And it just happened," said Jones, who entered the game with just two homers in Utah's 31 previous outings.

"It never really crosses your mind. As a hitter, once you hit a home run you want to try and focus on not thinking about hitting another one. You work on just getting a base hit," he added. "Something happened. I don't know if it was something I ate or if it was because I was writing a paper the night before."

Whatever the reason, Jones' performance was one for the books.