Rice University Athletics
Friday, April 17
Reckling Park
6:35 pm
Rice University
vs
Memphis
Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics
Rice Host Memphis As Conference Season Reaches Its Midpoint
4/16/2026 10:08:00 PM | Baseball
Winners of nine of the last 11 games
HOUSTON-Rice looks to continue its current winning streak over the weekend as the Owls host Memphis for a three-game series that opens on Friday at 6:35, followed by a 2:05 first pitch on Saturday before wrapping up at 1:05 on Sunday. The series with the Tigers is the fifth of the American Conference's nine three-game regular season series for the Owls. .
ON THE AIR: Jason Metko will call the action on RiceOwls.com and the Varsity Network app on Friday while J.P. Heath will handle the call the remainder of the series. Heath will join Enrique Cruz and Alexis Pedraza on Friday's ESPN+ broadcast, while Metko, Kyle Rogers, and Pedraza will handle duties on Saturday. Sam Kaman, Austin Davis and Pedraza will call the series finale on Sunday.
PROMOTIONS: Friday Night is Wine Night at Reckling Park, with $5 wine available at all concession stands, while the first 150 fans will receive the first set of souvenir trading cards featuring the 2026 Owls. Saturday is Beach Day with the first 75 fans receiving a "Rice Guys" beach towel and the first 150 receiving beach balls, while all fans will be invited to take in a showing of the movie "Madagascar" postgame on the Reckling Park video board.
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
PITCHING PROBABLES:
Friday: Tanner Wiggins (2-1, 3.48) vs. RHP Will Howell (3-5, 7.49)
Saturday: Ethan Sanders (2-4, 3.96) vs. LHP David Case (2-6, 6.04)
Sunday: Ryland Urbanczyk (3-2, 2.48) vs. TBA
THAT WINNING FEELING: The Owls' 24 wins this season are their most in a season since they ended the 2019 season 26-33 and are seven more than their final total from 2025.
RICE RECENTLY: Rice has won five straight games since back-to-back shutout losses to UTSA, hitting .330 over that stretch while the pitching staff has posted an overall 2.40 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. The Owls' bullpen has posted a combined 2-0 record, 1.02 ERA, and a pair of saves. Four Owls are hitting over .400 in the last five games (JC Davis, .455; Paul Smith, .444; Colin Robson, .438; Landis Davila, .412).
AND NOT SO RECENTLY: Rice fell to 3-6 on February 24 after an extra-inning home loss to HCU, but has gone 21-8 since that time, the best record in the American. The Owls are followed by USF (19-8), UAB (18-10), UTSA and ECU (18-11), Wichita State (17-13), FAU (14-14), Tulane (14-15), Charlotte (13-15), and Memphis (9-18).
HOME FRONT: Rice is 13-6 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 21-14 (.600) at home under Pierce.
OWLS & TIGERS: Rice and Memphis met regularly as members of Conference USA from 2006 to 2013, with Rice winning 22 of 32. The series resumed in 2024 when Rice joined the American, and the Tigers hold a 4-2 lead in those games, with each school taking the series as the road team. Memphis returned to Reckling Park in 2024 and swept the Owls despite hitting a combined .143 in the three games. Rice pitchers gave up only 11 singles and four doubles, but Memphis capitalized on 17 walks and eight hit batters. Rice presented new head coach David Pierce with his 500th career win in the opening game of the series and his 501st win the following afternoon gave him his first road series win with the Owls. Pierce is 8-4 in his career vs. Memphis head coach Matt Riser, including a 6-3 record between 2014 and 2016 when Pierce was at Tulane and Riser at Southeast Louisiana.
STREAKING SEASON: Rice's current five-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.
ON THE AIR: Jason Metko will call the action on RiceOwls.com and the Varsity Network app on Friday while J.P. Heath will handle the call the remainder of the series. Heath will join Enrique Cruz and Alexis Pedraza on Friday's ESPN+ broadcast, while Metko, Kyle Rogers, and Pedraza will handle duties on Saturday. Sam Kaman, Austin Davis and Pedraza will call the series finale on Sunday.
PROMOTIONS: Friday Night is Wine Night at Reckling Park, with $5 wine available at all concession stands, while the first 150 fans will receive the first set of souvenir trading cards featuring the 2026 Owls. Saturday is Beach Day with the first 75 fans receiving a "Rice Guys" beach towel and the first 150 receiving beach balls, while all fans will be invited to take in a showing of the movie "Madagascar" postgame on the Reckling Park video board.
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
PITCHING PROBABLES:
Friday: Tanner Wiggins (2-1, 3.48) vs. RHP Will Howell (3-5, 7.49)
Saturday: Ethan Sanders (2-4, 3.96) vs. LHP David Case (2-6, 6.04)
Sunday: Ryland Urbanczyk (3-2, 2.48) vs. TBA
THAT WINNING FEELING: The Owls' 24 wins this season are their most in a season since they ended the 2019 season 26-33 and are seven more than their final total from 2025.
RICE RECENTLY: Rice has won five straight games since back-to-back shutout losses to UTSA, hitting .330 over that stretch while the pitching staff has posted an overall 2.40 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. The Owls' bullpen has posted a combined 2-0 record, 1.02 ERA, and a pair of saves. Four Owls are hitting over .400 in the last five games (JC Davis, .455; Paul Smith, .444; Colin Robson, .438; Landis Davila, .412).
AND NOT SO RECENTLY: Rice fell to 3-6 on February 24 after an extra-inning home loss to HCU, but has gone 21-8 since that time, the best record in the American. The Owls are followed by USF (19-8), UAB (18-10), UTSA and ECU (18-11), Wichita State (17-13), FAU (14-14), Tulane (14-15), Charlotte (13-15), and Memphis (9-18).
HOME FRONT: Rice is 13-6 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 21-14 (.600) at home under Pierce.
OWLS & TIGERS: Rice and Memphis met regularly as members of Conference USA from 2006 to 2013, with Rice winning 22 of 32. The series resumed in 2024 when Rice joined the American, and the Tigers hold a 4-2 lead in those games, with each school taking the series as the road team. Memphis returned to Reckling Park in 2024 and swept the Owls despite hitting a combined .143 in the three games. Rice pitchers gave up only 11 singles and four doubles, but Memphis capitalized on 17 walks and eight hit batters. Rice presented new head coach David Pierce with his 500th career win in the opening game of the series and his 501st win the following afternoon gave him his first road series win with the Owls. Pierce is 8-4 in his career vs. Memphis head coach Matt Riser, including a 6-3 record between 2014 and 2016 when Pierce was at Tulane and Riser at Southeast Louisiana.
STREAKING SEASON: Rice's current five-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.
Players Mentioned
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RHP
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