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BREAKING: Rice Baseball to part ways with Jose Cruz Jr.

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Jose Cruz Jr. will no longer be the head coach of Rice Baseball, effective immediately. The Owls are making a leadership change within the program.

Just 16 games into the 2025 Rice Baseball season, Jose Cruz Jr. is out as its head coach, sources tell The Roost. Cruz was informed of the decision on Thursday, and the team was told shortly afterward.

Despite Cruz’s beloved status as a player and supporter of the program over the years, the results were lacking on the field, leading to this moment. The program sits at 2-14 on the season, most recently losing to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the second time in three years—Rice had previously been unbeaten against the Islanders, 20-0 all time.

Cruz leaves Rice with a record of 63-126 across four seasons. Holding anyone to the standard set during the legendary run of Wayne Graham, whom the Owls honored earlier this season, isn’t reasonable. However, a .333 winning percentage was far from adequate, and an active losing streak of 10 consecutive defeats made it clear to decision-makers that it was time for a reset.

A search is expected to begin soon to find Cruz’s replacement. Pitching coach Parker Bangs will take over as the Owls’ interim head coach for the remainder of the season and will lead the team effective immediately, beginning with a four-game series against Houston Christian this weekend.

Stay tuned to The Roost on Patreon for updates as well as game analysis and more as the Owls look to finish out a bumpy campaign with most of the season still ahead of them.

** Photo Credit: Maria Lysaker **
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TAMU-CC hands Rice baseball tenth straight loss

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The early season tailspin continued for Rice baseball on Monday night, falling 9-2 at home to Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

In what has become a recurring nightmare, Rice baseball stepped into the batters in the bottom of the first inning trailing. Visiting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which until two seasons ago was 0-20 against the Owls all time, put up a three-spot in the first frame and forced opening pitcher Blaine Brown from the ballgame.

The Islanders tacked on one more in the second, two in the third and another in the fourth to go in front 7-0. Rice would score twice in the fourth, the first on an RBI single to left from Brown and the next on a sacrifice fly from Treyton Rank. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi got both runs back in the sixth and maintained that seven-run advantage into the ninth.

Last Time Out: Rice baseball swept by Yale

Rice got two runs back in the ninth on an RBI single from Cole Green, one of several freshman having a remarkably encouraging season despite the circumstances. It would be too little, too late as Rice fell again, stretching their losing streak to 10 consecutive games.

What it means | When it rains, it pours

It’s been a perfect storm for a disastrous start for Rice baseball. A rough week against some of the nation’s best teams at the Astros Foundation College Classic marked the beginning of a stretch of nine games across 11 days.

Add in short outings from starting pitching and a bullpen leaking runs by the inning and you get the makings of a skid. Multiply that by so many games in such a short period of time and you get a 10-game losing streak and a 2-14 record.

More: First reports from Rice Football Spring Practice

Rice baseball has done plenty to shoot itself if the foot this season. Coaches and players alike have taken their fair share of the blame. But on nights like tonight, the totality of the misery is hard to overlook.

ON DECK | vs Houston Christian x4 (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Baseball suffers sweep by Yale

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The losses continue to mount for Rice Baseball, which suffered a series loss to Yale, dropping the Owls’ overall record to 2-13 on the season.

FRIDAY | Yale 8, Rice 3

Rice baseball starter Davion Hickson found himself in early trouble on Friday night when a hit by pitch and an error thrust him into a jam. Yale would capitalize, striking for two in that inning before threatening in the second and breaking through in earnest in the third. Yale made it 5-0 after three, taking advantage of free passes and defensive errors to force Hickson out of the game before the fifth inning.

Last Weekend: Rice Baseball winless at Astros College Classic

The Rice bats got three back but two more runs charged to Von Baker made it 8-3 heading to the sixth. Even with an impressive four-inning, no-hit, six-strikeout showing form Garrett Stratton in relief, the deficit proved too large to overcome with the Owls falling in the series opener by a final score of 8-4.

SATURDAY | Yale 11, Rice 8

JD McCracken got Rice off to a much improved start on Saturday afternoon, mowing down Yale batters through six scoreless innings before the Bulldogs finally got to him with a solo home run to open the seventh. Even with the blemish, McCracken had done enough to put the Owls in a position to win, along with 3 RBI from Michael Zito and Graiden West’s first career home run at the plate.

“He was spectacular. He was amazing,” Rice baseball head coach Jose Cruz Jr. said of McCracken’s showing. “He does set the tone. And he pitches to contact. There’s a lot of action out there. We’re happy to have him. As long as he’s healthy, he’ll be out there as long as he can go.”

McCracken’s brilliance would fizzle quickly when he left the mound. It didn’t matter who came through the door, Tucker Alch, Jackson Blank and Caleb Williams were each responsible for runs that turned a significant Rice lead into an agonizing loss as Yale scored 11 in the final three innings. Rice would get three back, but it wouldn’t be enough to salvage the game.

SUNDAY | Yale 7, Rice 4

Yale struck first in the series finale, getting two runs in the first and two more in the second, forcing Rice starter Robert Fernandez from the game early on. This time, the Owls’ bats offered some resistance, though. Rice scored three in the bottom of the first, one run via an error and the final two coming on the first home run from freshman Blaine Brown.

More: 2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

Trailing 4-3 after two innings, both bullpens kept the game close until Yale broke through in the seventh with one insurance run and two more in the eight. Down 7-3, Brown added another RBI on a single in the eighth but that would prove to be the end of the scoring for both teams on the weekend and Rice dropped the final game 7-4.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

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Rice Baseball thumped by Houston

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Rice baseball dropped the first game of the Silver Glove Series against Houston, sleepwalking through the Cougars’ offensive assault.

Fans had barely had time to wolf down their dollar hot dogs before the game was effectively ended on Wednesday night. Rice baseball came out flat in the first game of the Silver Glove Series against Houston, allowing four runs in the first, three in the second and five more in the third, falling into a 12-0 deficit before they came to bat in the third inning.

Read More: Rice Baseball winless at Astros College Classic

Nolan Roycraft got the start and couldn’t make it out of the first. Reed Gallant was next up and wore eight runs before being lifted for Jackson Blank, who pitched 2.2 scoreless innings. By then, the damage was done.

Between Blank and Von Baker, Rice held Houston off the board in the next three innings. Colin Robson got Rice on the board with an RBI groundout in the sixth but that was all the Owls could manage in another run-rule defeat. Houston scored six in the seventh to put the game away for good, winning by a final score of 18-1 in seven innings.

Generally, it’s hard to put too much stock in a midweek game, especially considering the randomness associated with college baseball and the various permutations of lineups and pitching staffs, but getting run-ruled in your own ballpark by your biggest rival is going to sting for some time. This was not the way Rice baseball envisioned beginning its 2025 season.

What it means | Midweek mess

Rice baseball did win its first midweek game of the season, defeating Sam Houston 6-1, primarily on the arm of Tucker Alch who twirled a gem to pick up the Owls’ first win of the season. When Alch isn’t at his absolute best, who is Rice supposed to turn to get outs during the midweek?

More: 2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

Lamar scored 11. Houston had topped that number before the end of the third inning. Rice has a total of three additional games still to come against that pair of teams. Fortunately, no midweek matchups with in-state power conference teams like Texas or Baylor are on the docket, but this pitching staff just doesn’t seem to have the depth to face any caliber of D1 opponent this weekend.

That puts pressure onto the starting rotation to get more length during the weekend to preserve the rest of the arms on staff and amplifies the impact needed from the bats, which have been promising at times, but erratic from game to game.

ON DECK | vs Yale (Fri-Sun), TAMU-CC (Mon)

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Rice Baseball defeated by Lamar

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Rice baseball overcame an early deficit but couldn’t keep up with the Lamar bats, falling to the Cardinals on Tuesday night at Reckling Park.

The situation looked dire on Tuesday night when Rice baseball found itself in a 4-0 hole against the visiting Lamar Cardinals as starter Tucker Alch labored through the early innings. The bats would come to his rescue, getting all four runs back in the bottom of the second and putting Rice in front with a two-spot in the fourth.

By the time Alch left the contest, he was in line for the win. Expectations had to be measured, though, as Alch handed the ball off to Garrett Stratton in the top of the fifth with two on and none out, clinging to a one-run advantage.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball winless at Astros College Classic

Not only did that advantage go up in smoke, but the Owls’ lead would never materialize again. After jumping in front by two, Lamar would score the last seven runs of the game, battering a beleaguered Rice bullpen and sending the Owls to a fifth consecutive loss

What it means | Youth Movement

The lineup has continued to skew younger and younger as the Owls’ season has progressed and that youth movement doesn’t seem to be going away. In just his second game in the leadoff spot, Hiram Bocachica went 3-for-6 with 2 RBI. Fellow freshman Michael Zito and Cole Green each scored two runs with Zito adding a three-hit game, too.

Although he’s not a freshman, Tobias Motley became the only Rice player this season to leave the yard multiple times, getting the Owls on the board with a solo shot in the second inning. Fellow sophomore Landon West walked twice. Blaine Brown got into the action later on, picking up a pair of hits, one of them a double.

More: 2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

In a season full of more bad news than Rice baseball fans would have hoped, the younger players have been the bright spot. Watching them develop and progress has the potential to be one of the defining throughlines of the season.

ON DECK | vs Houston (Wed), vs Yale (Fri-Sun)

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