Teams from across Texas will flock to Houston for the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic. Here’s an overview of the path for Rice baseball.

Rice baseball enters the third weekend of its regular season at 3-4 with a series win over Houston Baptist, a sweep at the hands of Louisiana and a midweek rout of Prairie View A&M. Now they return to Minute Maid Park for the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic.

The Owls faired well in their last appearance in the Shriner’s Classic in 2019. After dropping their Friday opener to Texas State 1-0, Rice beat Baylor 6-3 and run-ruled TCU 12-2 in seven innings on Sunday. First baseman Dominic DiCaprio and outfielder Andrew Dunlap were named to the all-tournament team.

Weekend Notes

Times: Friday 11:00 a.m. | Saturday 11:00 a.m. | Sunday 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Reckling Park
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal

Projected Rice Baseball Starters

Friday | Blake Brogdon (0-1, 7.27 ERA)
Saturday | Roel Garcia (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Sunday | TBD

Sam Houston (Friday)

Sam Houston had their opening weekend series against Oklahoma State canceled. They’ve only played five games thus far and sit at 1-4. Their schedule to date includes midweek losses to Texas State and Baylor and a series loss to UTSA.

The game they did win came on Friday night with Tyler Davis on the mound, who Rice might very well see this week. Their lineup includes three All-Conference picks led by outfielder Jack Rogers who enters the weekend with an absurd .444 average.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Saturday)

Texas A&M Corpus Christi swept Central Michigan to start the year before winning one of their next four against Houston and falling to Texas in a midweek game.

Henry Bird, who started both of the second games in their first two series was fine the first time out before getting pummeled by Houston, allowing seven runs and nine hits in three innings. Catcher Josh Caraway is only hitting .231, but leads the team with five extra-base hits and a 1.025 OPS.

Texas State (Sunday)

Sitting at 4-6, Texas State has played more baseball than any of the Owls’ opponents thus far. They split a four-game series with BYU and won midweek games against Sam Houston State and New Mexico State and. They were also swept by Sacramento State and defeated by Texas on Wednesday night.

Presumptive starter Zeke Wood has walked nine and hit two batters in 9.2 innings. He also has nine strikeouts. Third baseman Justin Thompson has provided the punch at the plate. He’s reached base safely in all 10 games and leads the team with 13 RBI and a .907 OPS.

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Rice baseball looks to keep their strong conference surge going with a road trip to Western Kentucky. Here’s how the Owls stack up with the Hilltoppers.

Listen online // Watch Friday (CUSA TV)

Winners of six straight conference games, Rice is playing their best baseball as the calendar turns to May. Next up the Owls hit the road for a three-game stretch with Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers are 4-4 over their last eight games and sit a half game back of Rice (12-9) in conference play with an 11-9-1 record. Both teams need the series win dearly with just a few weeks of conference play remaining before postseason play begins. Here’s what to expect from WKU:

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday – 3:00 pm: Matt Canterino (6-4, 2.69) vs Reece Calvert (1-2, 5.03)
Friday – 6:30 pm: Evan Kravetz (4-2, 3.69)  vs Troy Newell (2-3, 6.95)
Sunday – 1:00 pm: Jackson Parthasarathy (3-6, 4.42) vs Joe Filosa (1-0, 5.64)

WKU Pitching

The Hilltoppers sport a 6.53 ERA, the worst among all pitching staffs in Conference USA. They’ve been collectively weak from top to bottom. All three hurlers in their weekend rotation have ERAs or 5.00 or worse, so do all but two of the pitchers on their roster who have appeared in at least one game this season.

Relievers Bailey Sutton (3.86 ERA) and Jeff Ciocco (4.86) are the Hilltoppers’ best options out of the pen but both of those pitchers wear a WHIP of 1.540 or worse. Opposing hitters are hitting .300 against WKU with 56 home runs. There isn’t anyone on the mound who will give Rice hitters a real scare over the weekend.

WKU Hitting

What Western Kentucky might lack on the bump they make up for in the batter’s box and it all starts with centerfielder Jake Sanford. His .859 slugging percentage leads the nation and he ranks inside the top 25 with a .500 on base percentage and a .412 batting average. He’s the heart and soul of the Hilltoppers’ lineup.

Sanford’s supporting cast is dangerous, too. Right fielder Jack Wilson owns a more human-like .427 slugging percentage and is second on the team with 49 hits with 13 doubles. Matt Phipps and Jackson Swinney have 10 doubles apiece. From top to bottom this team is going to make the Rice pitching staff work.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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After taking two of three in the Shriner’s College Classic, Rice baseball hits the road for a short trip within the city to play Houston on Tuesday.

Two games does not a season make, but the significance of the Owls’ most recent pair of victories cannot be understated. Head coach Matt Bragga said the team dug deep after the Friday lost and finally began “playing with a sense of urgency” — and it showed.

Now they’ll look to continue their two-game winning streak with a victory over rival Houston, who went winless at Minute Maid Park over the weekend. The start time has been moved forward to account for the expected cold weather.

When and Where

• Tues., March 5 at 4:00 p.m. CT
• Watch: Cougars All-Access ($)
• Listen: Stretch Radio

Pitching matchups

Drake Greenwood and Kel Bordwine have taken some of the Owls’ midweek starts to this point. Bragga also mentioned Addison Moss could see action on Tuesday or Wednesday. His most recent outing came on Friday against Texas State where he threw two scoreless innings.

Houston has only had one midweek game to this point, a 13-5 extra-innings loss to McNeese State. They had a contest last week against Lamar postponed. Clay Aguilar got the start against McNeese, going three innings, striking out six while allowing four hits. He saw relief duty on Saturday in Houston’s loss to Texas State.  More than likely Rice will see a handful of arms for a few innings at a time.

Names to know from the plate

The Houston offense has been somewhat uninspiring so far this season. The Cougars are hitting .219, but the bulk of their offensive prowess rests on the bats of .333-hitter Jared Triolo, .282-hitter Joe Davis and .265 hitter Kobe Davis. They strike out a lot, 94Ks collectively this season, and don’t have much depth. This isn’t a lineup that’s going to score in droves.

ON DECK | vs Sam Houston  (Wed), vs Oklahoma (Fri – Sun)

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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