Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics
Owls and Shockers Face Off in Crucial Series
5/8/2025 11:09:00 PM | Baseball
Homestand concludes wth Senior Day on Sunday
OWLS AND SHOCKERS MEET IN CRUCIAL SERIES TO CLOSE 2025 HOME SCHEDULE: Rice looks to extend its 2025 season in its final home series of the year, hosting Wichita State, Friday through Sunday at Reckling Park. The Owls and Shockers are two of four teams battling for the final two spots in the AAC Baseball Championship (see below).
PROMOTIONALLY SPEAKING: Friday night's opener will feature Baseball Bingo with the chance to win special prizes throughout the night. The final set of 2025 Rice Baseball trading cards presented by Houston Methodist will be given out on Saturday. The season concludes on Mother's Day as we salute our senior class (Tucker Alch, Aric Anderson, Von Baker, Jack Ben-Shoshan, Micah Davis, Reed Gallant, Max Johnson, J.D. McCracken, Treyton Rank, Garrett Stratton, Mark Perkins, Tom Vincent and Graiden West) and then have them join their mothers to throw out the season's last first pitch.
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: SideArm
PITCHING MATCHUPS:
Friday RHP Davion Hickson (2-6, 3.90) vs. RHP Grant Alder (4-5, 6.44 ERA)
Saturday TBA vs. RHP Brady Hamilton (2-6, 5.37 ERA)
Sunday TBA vs. TBA
ON THE AIR: J.P. Heath and Kyle Rogers will call all three games on ESPN+, while Jason Metko will handle the duties on RiceOwls.com.
FOUR FOR TWO: Rice (8-13), UAB, Wichita State, and Memphis (7-14) head into the last two weeks of the regular season battling for the final two spots in the AAC Tournament in Clearwater, Florida which begins play on May 20.Remaining schedules by opponents' conference records:
CLOSING KICK: Rice is looking to reach the AAC Championship for the second consecutive year after opening conference play 1-8 after the first three weeks. In their inaugural season in the conference, Rice stood 10-24 and 1-8 in AAC play after 34 games. The Owls won four of the next five series, posting a 10-5 record over that stretch to improve to 11-13 before ending the season at regular-season champion East Carolina. They entered the last weekend in a five-way tie in the bottom half of the conference, eventually earning the eighth seed. Through 34 games this year, the Owls were 7-27 and 1-8 in league play, but have gone 8-7 overall and 7-5 in the AAC and enter the penultimate weekend at home and currently in seventh, with Memphis, UAB, and Wichita State one game behind. As they did last year, they will close the season on the road against the regular season champions, traveling to San Antonio next week to face UTSA Thursday through Saturday.
FRESHMAN LEADERSHIP: Blaine Brown (.302) is bidding to become the first true freshman to lead the Owls in hitting since Anthony Rendon (.388) in 2009 and the first to hit over .300 since Ford Proctor hit .336 in 2016. Proctor was also the last freshman to lead Rice in RBI (41 in 2016) and Brown leads the team this year with 36. Hiram Bocachica Jr (33) and Brown (29) lead the Owls in runs. Rendon is the last freshman 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.
SERIES NOTES:
COACHES: This will be David Pierce's first meeting with both Wichita State, first time facing the Shockers; head coach Brian Green.
UP NEXT: Rice closes out the 2025 regular season schedule next Thursday through Saturday on the road in San Antonio against UTSA.
PROMOTIONALLY SPEAKING: Friday night's opener will feature Baseball Bingo with the chance to win special prizes throughout the night. The final set of 2025 Rice Baseball trading cards presented by Houston Methodist will be given out on Saturday. The season concludes on Mother's Day as we salute our senior class (Tucker Alch, Aric Anderson, Von Baker, Jack Ben-Shoshan, Micah Davis, Reed Gallant, Max Johnson, J.D. McCracken, Treyton Rank, Garrett Stratton, Mark Perkins, Tom Vincent and Graiden West) and then have them join their mothers to throw out the season's last first pitch.
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: SideArm
PITCHING MATCHUPS:
Friday RHP Davion Hickson (2-6, 3.90) vs. RHP Grant Alder (4-5, 6.44 ERA)
Saturday TBA vs. RHP Brady Hamilton (2-6, 5.37 ERA)
Sunday TBA vs. TBA
ON THE AIR: J.P. Heath and Kyle Rogers will call all three games on ESPN+, while Jason Metko will handle the duties on RiceOwls.com.
FOUR FOR TWO: Rice (8-13), UAB, Wichita State, and Memphis (7-14) head into the last two weeks of the regular season battling for the final two spots in the AAC Tournament in Clearwater, Florida which begins play on May 20.Remaining schedules by opponents' conference records:
- Rice 25-17 (Wichita State 7-14, @UTSA 18-3)
- UAB 24-18 ( @Charlotte 12-9, FAU ,12-9)
- Memphis 18-24 (Tulane 11-10, @Wichita State 7-14)
- Wichita State 15-27 (@Rice 8-13, Memphis 7-14)
CLOSING KICK: Rice is looking to reach the AAC Championship for the second consecutive year after opening conference play 1-8 after the first three weeks. In their inaugural season in the conference, Rice stood 10-24 and 1-8 in AAC play after 34 games. The Owls won four of the next five series, posting a 10-5 record over that stretch to improve to 11-13 before ending the season at regular-season champion East Carolina. They entered the last weekend in a five-way tie in the bottom half of the conference, eventually earning the eighth seed. Through 34 games this year, the Owls were 7-27 and 1-8 in league play, but have gone 8-7 overall and 7-5 in the AAC and enter the penultimate weekend at home and currently in seventh, with Memphis, UAB, and Wichita State one game behind. As they did last year, they will close the season on the road against the regular season champions, traveling to San Antonio next week to face UTSA Thursday through Saturday.
FRESHMAN LEADERSHIP: Blaine Brown (.302) is bidding to become the first true freshman to lead the Owls in hitting since Anthony Rendon (.388) in 2009 and the first to hit over .300 since Ford Proctor hit .336 in 2016. Proctor was also the last freshman to lead Rice in RBI (41 in 2016) and Brown leads the team this year with 36. Hiram Bocachica Jr (33) and Brown (29) lead the Owls in runs. Rendon is the last freshman 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.
SERIES NOTES:
- The schools have met eight times with Wichita State holding a 6-2 lead. They have met five times in the regular season (Wichita leads 5-0) and three times in the regional round of the NCAA Championship (Rice leads 2-1).
- The schools first met in 1986 in a two-game series at Cameron Field, which was swept by Wichita State.
- The Shockers eliminated the Owls in the championship game of the 1996 regional held in Wichita, 16-6.
- Rice opened its march to the 2003 College World Series title by defeating Wichita State twice at the regional held at Reckling Park.
COACHES: This will be David Pierce's first meeting with both Wichita State, first time facing the Shockers; head coach Brian Green.
UP NEXT: Rice closes out the 2025 regular season schedule next Thursday through Saturday on the road in San Antonio against UTSA.
Players Mentioned
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