Rice University Athletics
Wednesday, April 15
Reckling Park
6:35 pm
Rice University
vs
Sam Houston
Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics
Owls Open Homestand by Hosting Bearkats
4/14/2026 10:17:00 PM | Baseball
Next 5 at Reckling Park
HOUSTON-Rice returns to Reckling Park after its first sweep of a series in Charlotte since 2017 by hosting the Sam Houston Bearkats at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday. The homestand continues over the weekend with three games against Memphis (6:35 Friday; 2:05 Saturday; 1:05 Sunday) before concluding next Tuesday with the second game of the 2026 Silver Glove Series against Houston at 6:35.
ON THE AIR: Jason Metko will call the action on RiceOwls.com and the Varsity Network app, while J.P. Heath, Kyle Rogers, and Alexis Pedraza will have the call on ESPN+.
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
PITCHING MATCHUP:
Ty Baker (0-0, 2.77) vs. Zach Alarid (0-1, 11.05)
HOME FRONT: Rice is 12-6 this season at Reckling Park and has won three of four home series (six of the last seven since last season). The Owls have not posted a winning season at home since they were 15-13-1 in 2018. In the 178 home games between 2019 and David Pierce's first home game as the Bixby Family Head Baseball Coach, Rice posted a .393 home winning percentage (70-108). The Owls are 20-14 (.588) at home under Pierce.
RICE RECENTLY: Rice has won four straight games since back-to-back shutout losses to UTSA, hitting .344 over that stretch while the pitching staff has posted an overall 2.72 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. The Owls' bullpen has posted a combined 1-0 record, 1.54 ERA, and a pair of saves.
STREAKING SEASON: Rice's current four-game winning streak is the Owls' third this year of at least four games, having won six straight from February 28 to March 8 and four in a row from March 28 to April 2. The last time the Owls had three winning streaks of better than four games in a season was in 2016, when they had two six-game streaks, one of five games and another of four to finish the season 38-24. Rice was 3-6 after a home loss to HCU on February 24, marking its fourth consecutive defeat. They are 21-8 since then and have not lost more than 2 in a row over the last 29 games. Since 2022-2025, Rice has had at least one nine-game losing streak in each season and 10 streaks of five or more losses, including a 12-game streak last season.
OWLS & BEARKATS: Rice and Sam Houston have met continuously during full baseball seasons since 1975, the longest streak for the Owls. The only break in the streak came in 2020 when the first game of the series was postponed and the second was canceled when the season was cut short by the pandemic. Rice holds a 68-55-1 advantage over that time frame, including a 35-32- 1 on the Rice campus. Sam Houston won the first meeting between the two at Reckling, posting the first shutout of the Owls at their new home, 9-0 on 21/6/00. Bixby Family Head Baseball Coach David Pierce began his head coaching career at Sam Houston June 15, 2011 after nine seasons as an assistant coach at Rice. He posted a 40-22 record in his initial season with the Bearkats, including a 2-1 record against Rice. He led his 24th-ranked team to a 2-1 win over the 9th-ranked Owls in his first matchup against his former mentor, Wayne Graham, on April 3, 2012, but Graham and the Owls earned a split of the season series with a 5-0 win in Sam Houston's final home game of the season. The two teams met again in the NCAA Regional held at Rice, with Sam Houston eliminating the host Owls on Sunday before falling to Arkansas. Pierce was 5-2 in three seasons at Sam Houston against Rice, including a sweep of the two games in 2013.
ON THE AIR: Jason Metko will call the action on RiceOwls.com and the Varsity Network app, while J.P. Heath, Kyle Rogers, and Alexis Pedraza will have the call on ESPN+.
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
PITCHING MATCHUP:
Ty Baker (0-0, 2.77) vs. Zach Alarid (0-1, 11.05)
HOME FRONT: Rice is 12-6 this season at Reckling Park and has won three of four home series (six of the last seven since last season). The Owls have not posted a winning season at home since they were 15-13-1 in 2018. In the 178 home games between 2019 and David Pierce's first home game as the Bixby Family Head Baseball Coach, Rice posted a .393 home winning percentage (70-108). The Owls are 20-14 (.588) at home under Pierce.
RICE RECENTLY: Rice has won four straight games since back-to-back shutout losses to UTSA, hitting .344 over that stretch while the pitching staff has posted an overall 2.72 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. The Owls' bullpen has posted a combined 1-0 record, 1.54 ERA, and a pair of saves.
STREAKING SEASON: Rice's current four-game winning streak is the Owls' third this year of at least four games, having won six straight from February 28 to March 8 and four in a row from March 28 to April 2. The last time the Owls had three winning streaks of better than four games in a season was in 2016, when they had two six-game streaks, one of five games and another of four to finish the season 38-24. Rice was 3-6 after a home loss to HCU on February 24, marking its fourth consecutive defeat. They are 21-8 since then and have not lost more than 2 in a row over the last 29 games. Since 2022-2025, Rice has had at least one nine-game losing streak in each season and 10 streaks of five or more losses, including a 12-game streak last season.
OWLS & BEARKATS: Rice and Sam Houston have met continuously during full baseball seasons since 1975, the longest streak for the Owls. The only break in the streak came in 2020 when the first game of the series was postponed and the second was canceled when the season was cut short by the pandemic. Rice holds a 68-55-1 advantage over that time frame, including a 35-32- 1 on the Rice campus. Sam Houston won the first meeting between the two at Reckling, posting the first shutout of the Owls at their new home, 9-0 on 21/6/00. Bixby Family Head Baseball Coach David Pierce began his head coaching career at Sam Houston June 15, 2011 after nine seasons as an assistant coach at Rice. He posted a 40-22 record in his initial season with the Bearkats, including a 2-1 record against Rice. He led his 24th-ranked team to a 2-1 win over the 9th-ranked Owls in his first matchup against his former mentor, Wayne Graham, on April 3, 2012, but Graham and the Owls earned a split of the season series with a 5-0 win in Sam Houston's final home game of the season. The two teams met again in the NCAA Regional held at Rice, with Sam Houston eliminating the host Owls on Sunday before falling to Arkansas. Pierce was 5-2 in three seasons at Sam Houston against Rice, including a sweep of the two games in 2013.
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