Owls Open Season Three of American Baseball on Friday

AMERICAN OPENS ON THE ROAD:    Rice resumes its extended set of games away from Reckling Park this weekend as the Owls open their third season in the American Conference by facing USF for a three-game series.   home series on March 27-29 against Florida Atlantic.

ON THE AIR: J.P. Heath will call the action on RiceOwls.com and the Varsity Network app. The games are also available on ESPN+.

HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: Statbroadcast

PITCHING PROBABLES:
Friday: Tanner Wiggins (0-0, 2.37) vs. LHP Edwin Alicea (4-0, 3.49)
Saturday: Ryland Urbanczyk (1-1, 2.75) vs. RHP Michael Senay (3-0, 0.87)
Sunday: Ethan Sanders (1-2, 3.77)   vs. TBA

AMERICAN WAY: Rice is 21-33 in two seasons in the American Conference and has qualified for the conference championship tournament in each season. The Owls are 8-19 on the road in the conference, winning one road series each year. They swept all three games against USF in Tampa in 2024, registering their first win, series win, and series sweep as conference members.   Rice is 6-3 in home series in the conference and has a 13-14 overall record in conference games at home.

OWLS AND BULLS: Rice is 6-1 all-time against USF, winning a single game at Reckling Park in 2002, 6-2 as part of the Coca-Cola Rice Classic. The schools next met in 2024 in a three-game series in Tampa, which saw the Owls sweep, 13-4, 10-6, and 10-3. The offensive explosion marked the first time Rice had scored in double-digits in each game of a three-game conference series since 2010. Rice took two of three last season at Reckling Park. South Florida took the opener in seven innings, 14-3, only to see Rice return the favor to the Bulls on Saturday with a 15-4 win in seven innings, and then took the series with a 5-3 win on Sunday. The win in seven innings on Saturday marked the first time the Owls had run-ruled a conference foe at home since 2015.

EARLY SUCCESS: Rice's 7-4 win over UTRGV improved the Owls' season record to 13-9 and put them four games over .500 for the second time in the last three games, with the last previous time they were as many as four games above the midpoint was at the end of the 2016 season when they finished 38-24. They reached 13 wins in their 22nd games, the fewest games to do so since 2016, when they also opened 13-9. Rice has reached 14 wins in less than 30 games only once since 2016, when the Owls were 14-12 in 2023. The Owls have not reached 15 or 16 wins in less than 30 games since 2016 (15-9, 16-11).

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