Road Trip Rolls On With Silver Glove Opener

Tuesday, March 10

Houston, TX

6:30 pm

Rice University

Houston

Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics

Road Trip Rolls On With Silver Glove Opener

3/9/2026 10:27:00 PM | Baseball

First pitch at 6:30 p.m.

By: by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)

GAME #17, RICE @HOUSTON: Rice continues its stretch of nine consecutive and 12 of 13 games away from Reckling Park with the opener of the 2026 Silver Glove Series at Houston. The Owls are back in the suitcase this weekend for a four-game set in Phoenix, Arizona, against Saint Mary's and Grand Canyon (March 13-15). Rice returns to Reckling on St. Patrick's Day to host UTRGV and then head back on the road to open American Conference action at USF (March 20-22).

ON THE AIR: J.P. Heath will call the action on RiceOwls.com and the Varsity Network app on Wednesday. Matt Pedersen and Kyle Rogers will call the game on ESPN+.

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

PITCHING PROBABLE:
RHP Jeremiah Arnett (2-0, 3.45) vs. RHP Caden Cooper (0-0, 3.38)

SILVER GLOVE SERIES: Rice and Houston began competing for the Silver Glove in 1998, and Rice has won the series in 18 of the previous 28 seasons while posting a 62-40 record. The series has seen 36 of the 100 games decided by two runs or less, with Rice holding a 22-14 advantage. There have been 14 Silver Glove shutouts (Rice 9, Houston 4), with the most recent a 1-0 Cougar win at home on 4/10/18. After Houston left Conference USA prior to 2014, the three-game series was played with home games on each campus, with the final game at Constellation Field through 2019. The series returned solely to each campus in 2022 when the Houston Astros purchased the Sugarland Skeeters franchise to use as the home base for their Triple-A team.

FROM BOTH SIDES: Houston and Rice split the six games played when David Pierce was a member of the Cougars, while Rice was 10-6 against Houston in his two years as an assistant. Rice was 39-8 in regular and postseason games with Houston when Pierce was on the Owls' staff.

EARLY SUCCESS: With its 8-6 comeback win over ACU on Saturday night, Rice moved three games over .500 (9-6) for the first time since the last day of the 2017 season when they defeated SE Louisiana in an elimination game at the Baton Rouge Regional to improve to 33-30. The Owls' season ended later that night when LSU eliminated the Owls, who finished 33-31. The Owls have nine wins in the first 16 games this season and a win tonight would see they reach double digits in wins at the earliest point in a season since 2015 (16th game). Last year, the Owls did not win their 10th game until the 40th game of the season, a 10-5 win at Memphis that was also David Pierce's 500th career win.