Thursday, May 15
San Antonio, TX
6 PM
Rice University
at
UTSA
Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics
Owls Look to Extend Season
5/14/2025 8:34:00 PM | Baseball
Magic number is one with UAB, Memphis and Wichita State,
POSTSEASON HOPES HINGE ON FINAL WEEKEND: Rice looks to extend its 2025 season past the final three games of the regular season when the Owls travel to San Antonio to face UTSA. With the 2025 AAC Baseball Championship presented by Regions set to begin next Tuesday in Clearwater, Florida, all final regular-season series in the conference will be played Thursday through Saturday. The Owls and Roadrunners will meet at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and close out the regular season at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
PITCHING MATCHUPS:
Thursday RHP Davion Hickson (2-6, 3.970) vs. RHP Zach Royse (8-4, 4.50)
Friday LHP J.D. McCracken (4-4, 6.13) vs. LHP Connor Myles (4-1, 4.58) ESPN+
Saturday TBA vs. TBA
ON THE AIR: J.P. Heath calls the games on RiceOwls.com while Mike Capps and Karl Schoening will handle the duties on ESPN+.
FOUR FOR TWO: Rice (10-14), Wichita State, and Memphis (8-16) and UAB (7-17) head into the last week of the regular season battling for the final two spots in the AAC Tournament. The Owls can qualify with a win vs. UTSA or one loss by two of the other three teams. They hold the tiebreaker and a two-game lead over Wichita State and Memphis, and those schools meet this week. Rice has a three-game lead over UAB, which holds the tiebreaker over Rice and hosts FAU. The shortest route to determining the Owls' fortunes for a return trip to Clearwater would be with either a win by the Owls or a loss by UAB on Thursday. Rice could finish as high as seventh in the final standings or as low as ninth,
OWLS AND ROADRUNNERS: The schools have met 45 times overall since the series began in 1994 with a 7-1 win by Rice at Cameron Field, followed by a 21-1 Roadrunner win in San Antonio. Rice holds an overall edge of 30-21, but UTSA holds a 10-8 edge at home, including wins in the last five. The win in 1994 was the only one by UTSA in a non-conference meeting (Rice 11-1). The schools first met as conference foes in 2014 and Rice took two of three from UTSA in the regular season and then defeated the Roadrunners 11-5 in the CUSA tournament final to complete a sweep of the conference titles on the way to hosting an NCAA Regional.
THE COACHES: David Pierce and UTSA's Pat Hallmark were members of Wayne Graham's coaching staff at Rice from 2006-11 and have faced off three times in opposing dugouts as head coaches (all while Pierce was at Texas). They met twice in 2019 when Hallmark was the head coach at Incarnate Word, with UIW winning the first game 3-2 on 3/26 and Texas the second, 9-0 on 5/14. Pierce came out on top in the most recent meeting, 6-2 on 2/18/20 in Hallmark's first season at UTSA.
TWIN KILLINGS: After turning just seven double plays in the first 21 games, Rice has 34 in the last 31 and leads the AAC with 27 in conference games. to lead Rice in runs (94). Bocachica leads the Owls with 12 steals, the most by a freshman since Tyler Henley had 12 in 2005 while becoming the last freshman to lead the Owls in thefts.
RUNNING OWLS: The 53 stolen bases by the Owls this season is their highest total since they finished the 2010 season when they nabbed 60. Freshman Hiram Bocachica Jr. leads the Owls with 13 stolen bases, the most for an Owl since Will Karp finished 2021 with 13 and the most by a Rice freshman since Will Ford had 18 in 1996. Tyler Henley (12 in 2005) was the last freshman to lead the Owls in steals. Anthony Rendon was the last Owl to steal 14 (2010).
UP NEXT: Rice closes out the 2025 regular season schedule next Thursday through Saturday on the road in San Antonio against UTSA.
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
PITCHING MATCHUPS:
Thursday RHP Davion Hickson (2-6, 3.970) vs. RHP Zach Royse (8-4, 4.50)
Friday LHP J.D. McCracken (4-4, 6.13) vs. LHP Connor Myles (4-1, 4.58) ESPN+
Saturday TBA vs. TBA
ON THE AIR: J.P. Heath calls the games on RiceOwls.com while Mike Capps and Karl Schoening will handle the duties on ESPN+.
FOUR FOR TWO: Rice (10-14), Wichita State, and Memphis (8-16) and UAB (7-17) head into the last week of the regular season battling for the final two spots in the AAC Tournament. The Owls can qualify with a win vs. UTSA or one loss by two of the other three teams. They hold the tiebreaker and a two-game lead over Wichita State and Memphis, and those schools meet this week. Rice has a three-game lead over UAB, which holds the tiebreaker over Rice and hosts FAU. The shortest route to determining the Owls' fortunes for a return trip to Clearwater would be with either a win by the Owls or a loss by UAB on Thursday. Rice could finish as high as seventh in the final standings or as low as ninth,
OWLS AND ROADRUNNERS: The schools have met 45 times overall since the series began in 1994 with a 7-1 win by Rice at Cameron Field, followed by a 21-1 Roadrunner win in San Antonio. Rice holds an overall edge of 30-21, but UTSA holds a 10-8 edge at home, including wins in the last five. The win in 1994 was the only one by UTSA in a non-conference meeting (Rice 11-1). The schools first met as conference foes in 2014 and Rice took two of three from UTSA in the regular season and then defeated the Roadrunners 11-5 in the CUSA tournament final to complete a sweep of the conference titles on the way to hosting an NCAA Regional.
THE COACHES: David Pierce and UTSA's Pat Hallmark were members of Wayne Graham's coaching staff at Rice from 2006-11 and have faced off three times in opposing dugouts as head coaches (all while Pierce was at Texas). They met twice in 2019 when Hallmark was the head coach at Incarnate Word, with UIW winning the first game 3-2 on 3/26 and Texas the second, 9-0 on 5/14. Pierce came out on top in the most recent meeting, 6-2 on 2/18/20 in Hallmark's first season at UTSA.
TWIN KILLINGS: After turning just seven double plays in the first 21 games, Rice has 34 in the last 31 and leads the AAC with 27 in conference games. to lead Rice in runs (94). Bocachica leads the Owls with 12 steals, the most by a freshman since Tyler Henley had 12 in 2005 while becoming the last freshman to lead the Owls in thefts.
RUNNING OWLS: The 53 stolen bases by the Owls this season is their highest total since they finished the 2010 season when they nabbed 60. Freshman Hiram Bocachica Jr. leads the Owls with 13 stolen bases, the most for an Owl since Will Karp finished 2021 with 13 and the most by a Rice freshman since Will Ford had 18 in 1996. Tyler Henley (12 in 2005) was the last freshman to lead the Owls in steals. Anthony Rendon was the last Owl to steal 14 (2010).
UP NEXT: Rice closes out the 2025 regular season schedule next Thursday through Saturday on the road in San Antonio against UTSA.
Players Mentioned
WBB: Rice vs. Marshall Postgame Presser
Wednesday, March 09
VB: Rice-Texas Postgame Presser
Saturday, December 04
VB: Rice-San Diego Postgame Presser
Thursday, December 02