Friday, March 1
Reckling Park
6:30 p.m.
Rice University
vs
Stanford
Rice Hosts Stanford for Three
2/29/2024 6:44:00 PM | Baseball
Series opener at 6:30 Friday
Owls and Cardinal Meet in Weekend Series
Rice continues a five-game homestand hits by welcoming 2023 CWS participant Stanford to Reckling Park for games Friday, Saturday and Sunday before wrapping up the home slate on Tuesday with a game against Prairie View A&M.
Watch ESPN+
Listen: Online / Varsity Network
Live Stats: SideArm
Full Game Notes: RiceOwls.com
On the Air
All Rice games are available over the internet at RiceOwls.com and on the Varsity Network app. J.P. Heath is back for his 16th season calling games and will be assisted this weekend by Lonnie King (Friday) and Jason Metko (Saturday) while Heath is on the road with men's basketball to face Wichita State. All three games of the Stanford series will be carried on ESPN+ with Randy McIlvoy & Kyle Rogers on Friday, Max Kelton & Enrique Cruz on Saturday and Matt Pedersen & Rogers closing the series on Sunday.
Owls and Cardinal
This will be the 10th regular season series between the school since they first met in a three-game set at Stanford in 1991, with the Cardinal holding a 24-12 lead. The last two series have been at Sunken Diamond with Stanford sweeping both and the Cardinal return to Houston with an eight-game winning streak in the series. The schools have split the first 14 meetings at Reckling, including the most recent four-game series here on March 9-12, 2017. Rice's 12-2 win in the first game of the Sunday doubleheader in 2017 is the Owls' most recent win. Rice has won the season series once in the regular season, taking two of three at Reckling Park in 2013, but the Owls most significant win in a series against Stanford came a decade earlier in the championship series of the 2003 College World Series when the Owls won 14-2 after the teams split the first two games, to give Rice its first NCAA team championship in any sport.
4:30 Saturday
Saturday's middle game of the Stanford series has been pushed back to a 4:30 start instead of the usual 2 p.m. Saturday time slot to avoid conflicting with the Rice women's basketball Senior Day game with North Texas.
Pitching Matchups
Friday RHP Parker Smith (01-1 1.64/1.27) vs. RHP Matt Scott (0-2, 6.75/1.61)
LHP J.D. McCracken (1-0, 1.26/0.98) vs. LHP Christian Lim (0-2, 10.50/2.17)
RHP Ryland Urbanczyk (0-1, 3.35/1.12) vs. Nick Dugan (2-0, 4.35/1.45)
Special Saturday Pitch
On February 20 as Rice was defeating Sam Houston 7-3 for its first win of the season, sixteen-year-old Jaelyn Kirby and her family were watching the game from the 23rd floor of Texas Children's Hospital in the pediatric cardiology unit. Her family tweeted a photo about their experience and before the Owls left for their road trip to play Louisiana, pitchers Parker Smith and J.D. McCracken and outfield Kyte McDonald visited Kirby and invited her to throw out the first pitch before Saturday's game with Stanford. Kirby, who has been diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome and lives in Tyler, was already scheduled to return to Houston this weekend for an annual walk to support Marfan Syndrome Awareness Month.
Rice continues a five-game homestand hits by welcoming 2023 CWS participant Stanford to Reckling Park for games Friday, Saturday and Sunday before wrapping up the home slate on Tuesday with a game against Prairie View A&M.
Watch ESPN+
Listen: Online / Varsity Network
Live Stats: SideArm
Full Game Notes: RiceOwls.com
On the Air
All Rice games are available over the internet at RiceOwls.com and on the Varsity Network app. J.P. Heath is back for his 16th season calling games and will be assisted this weekend by Lonnie King (Friday) and Jason Metko (Saturday) while Heath is on the road with men's basketball to face Wichita State. All three games of the Stanford series will be carried on ESPN+ with Randy McIlvoy & Kyle Rogers on Friday, Max Kelton & Enrique Cruz on Saturday and Matt Pedersen & Rogers closing the series on Sunday.
Owls and Cardinal
This will be the 10th regular season series between the school since they first met in a three-game set at Stanford in 1991, with the Cardinal holding a 24-12 lead. The last two series have been at Sunken Diamond with Stanford sweeping both and the Cardinal return to Houston with an eight-game winning streak in the series. The schools have split the first 14 meetings at Reckling, including the most recent four-game series here on March 9-12, 2017. Rice's 12-2 win in the first game of the Sunday doubleheader in 2017 is the Owls' most recent win. Rice has won the season series once in the regular season, taking two of three at Reckling Park in 2013, but the Owls most significant win in a series against Stanford came a decade earlier in the championship series of the 2003 College World Series when the Owls won 14-2 after the teams split the first two games, to give Rice its first NCAA team championship in any sport.
4:30 Saturday
Saturday's middle game of the Stanford series has been pushed back to a 4:30 start instead of the usual 2 p.m. Saturday time slot to avoid conflicting with the Rice women's basketball Senior Day game with North Texas.
Pitching Matchups
Friday RHP Parker Smith (01-1 1.64/1.27) vs. RHP Matt Scott (0-2, 6.75/1.61)
LHP J.D. McCracken (1-0, 1.26/0.98) vs. LHP Christian Lim (0-2, 10.50/2.17)
RHP Ryland Urbanczyk (0-1, 3.35/1.12) vs. Nick Dugan (2-0, 4.35/1.45)
Special Saturday Pitch
On February 20 as Rice was defeating Sam Houston 7-3 for its first win of the season, sixteen-year-old Jaelyn Kirby and her family were watching the game from the 23rd floor of Texas Children's Hospital in the pediatric cardiology unit. Her family tweeted a photo about their experience and before the Owls left for their road trip to play Louisiana, pitchers Parker Smith and J.D. McCracken and outfield Kyte McDonald visited Kirby and invited her to throw out the first pitch before Saturday's game with Stanford. Kirby, who has been diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome and lives in Tyler, was already scheduled to return to Houston this weekend for an annual walk to support Marfan Syndrome Awareness Month.
Players Mentioned
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
P
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballDAVID PIERCE INTRODUCTORY PRESS CONFERENCE
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