Rice University Athletics
Thursday, May 14
Reckling Park
6:35 pm
Rice University
vs
Tulane
Photo by: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics
Owls Look to Improve Postseason Position in Home Series Finale
5/13/2026 9:09:00 PM | Baseball
Series opens at 6:35 on Thursday
HOUSTON- Rice wraps up its third season in the American Conference by hosting Tulane at Reckling Park for three games, Thursday through Saturday. The first two games are set for 6:35 first pitches, while the finale is slated to start at 1:05 p.m. Championship with three against Tulane Thursday through Saturday.
ON THE AIR: J.P. Heath will call the action on RiceOwls.com and the Varsity Network app for the first two games, while Jason Metko will handle the call for Saturday's finale. Gerald Sanchez, Austin Davis, and Abby Mahoney will handle Thursday's ESPN+ broadcast, Randy McIlvoy, Enrique Cruz, and Alexis Pedraza will call Friday's game, while Heath, Sam Kaman and Pedraza will call the regular season finale on Saturday.
RECOGNITIONS AND PROMOTIONS:
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
THE RACE FOR THE TOP FOUR: Four of the eight slots in the American Conference Baseball Championship have been filled as Rice, UTSA, ECU, and UAB have clinched a ticket to Clearwater, Florida, and the Owls could enter next week's tournament seeded anywhere from second to seventh. The two top seeds will receive a double bye, while the third and fourth-place teams will receive a bye to the second day of play. The four remaining seeds open the tournament in a single-elimination bracket next Wednesday. Rice is tied with UAB in third at 13-11 but holds the tiebreaker over the Blazers after sweeping them two weeks ago. Both trail ECU by a game, with Rice holding the advantage over the Pirates thanks to taking two of three last weekend. While Rice will host Tulane, UAB will wrap up its season on the road at regular-season champion UTSA. Florida Atlantic and Memphis are both one game behind Rice and UAB, and FAU will host ECU while Memphis travels to Charlotte. Wichita State is two games behind Rice and UAB and travels to USF this week.
OWLS AND GREEN WAVE: Rice leads the overall series 31-13, including a 14-4 record at Rice (11-3 at Reckling Park). The schools have met 41 times in the regular season (Rice leads 30-11), 33 times in conference games (Rice leads 24-9), 11 times in non-conference games (Rice leads 7-4), and three times in postseason play (Tulane leads 2-1 after winning the 2005 Super Regional in New Orleans and advancing to the College World Series). The teams won a combined 12 C-USA tournament titles (Rice 7, Tulane 5), but never faced each other in the tournament. Tulane won five of the first 10 C-USA tournaments, while Rice won seven in its first 12 years in the conference.
MILESTONE WIN: Tulane has won the last five meetings, but the Owls' last win had additional significance. Rice made its American Conference baseball debut when it hosted the Green Wave in the opening series of the 2024 season, and after dropping the first two games, picked up its first American Athletic Conference victory with a 4-2 win in the series finale. Ryland Urbanczyk took over for starter Tucker Alch in the fourth inning and was credited with the win, while Tyler Hamilton, Tom Vincent (who now pitches for Tulane), and Davion Hickson allowed no hits in the final 2.1 innings to preserve the win.
PIERCE AND TULANE: David Pierce was named the 23rd head baseball coach at Tulane on June 8, 2014, and posted a 76-46 mark in two seasons coaching the Green Wave, leading them to a pair of NCAA appearances. Pierce is 0-4 in his career as a head coach when facing Tulane. The Green Wave defeated Pierce and Sam Houston State 2-0 on 2/15/13, and they took all three games of the Rice-Tulane series last season in New Orleans
ON THE AIR: J.P. Heath will call the action on RiceOwls.com and the Varsity Network app for the first two games, while Jason Metko will handle the call for Saturday's finale. Gerald Sanchez, Austin Davis, and Abby Mahoney will handle Thursday's ESPN+ broadcast, Randy McIlvoy, Enrique Cruz, and Alexis Pedraza will call Friday's game, while Heath, Sam Kaman and Pedraza will call the regular season finale on Saturday.
RECOGNITIONS AND PROMOTIONS:
- Tickets to all three games of the final home series have been reduced 30% in recognition of the Owls returning to the 30-win mark.
- Prior to Thursday's opener, Rice will hold a special Commencement exercise for the 10 Owls (Aric Anderson, Jacob Devenny, Trey Duffield, Austin Eppley, Robert Fernandez, Marco Fuentes, Lorenzo Rios, Paul Smith, Jax Traeger, and Ryland Urbanczyk) who were unable to attend ceremonies last weekend while playing at East Carolina.
- Saturday is Senior Day as Rice salutes the players and families in their final home game at Reckling Park.
- The first 150 fans on Senior Day will receive the final set of baseball trading cards featuring the Owls' seniors in addition to Owls' legend Lance Berkman
- The first 250 fans in attendance on Saturday will receive a Rice water bottle presented by Houston Methodist.
HOT LINKS
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: RiceOwls.com
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
THE RACE FOR THE TOP FOUR: Four of the eight slots in the American Conference Baseball Championship have been filled as Rice, UTSA, ECU, and UAB have clinched a ticket to Clearwater, Florida, and the Owls could enter next week's tournament seeded anywhere from second to seventh. The two top seeds will receive a double bye, while the third and fourth-place teams will receive a bye to the second day of play. The four remaining seeds open the tournament in a single-elimination bracket next Wednesday. Rice is tied with UAB in third at 13-11 but holds the tiebreaker over the Blazers after sweeping them two weeks ago. Both trail ECU by a game, with Rice holding the advantage over the Pirates thanks to taking two of three last weekend. While Rice will host Tulane, UAB will wrap up its season on the road at regular-season champion UTSA. Florida Atlantic and Memphis are both one game behind Rice and UAB, and FAU will host ECU while Memphis travels to Charlotte. Wichita State is two games behind Rice and UAB and travels to USF this week.
OWLS AND GREEN WAVE: Rice leads the overall series 31-13, including a 14-4 record at Rice (11-3 at Reckling Park). The schools have met 41 times in the regular season (Rice leads 30-11), 33 times in conference games (Rice leads 24-9), 11 times in non-conference games (Rice leads 7-4), and three times in postseason play (Tulane leads 2-1 after winning the 2005 Super Regional in New Orleans and advancing to the College World Series). The teams won a combined 12 C-USA tournament titles (Rice 7, Tulane 5), but never faced each other in the tournament. Tulane won five of the first 10 C-USA tournaments, while Rice won seven in its first 12 years in the conference.
MILESTONE WIN: Tulane has won the last five meetings, but the Owls' last win had additional significance. Rice made its American Conference baseball debut when it hosted the Green Wave in the opening series of the 2024 season, and after dropping the first two games, picked up its first American Athletic Conference victory with a 4-2 win in the series finale. Ryland Urbanczyk took over for starter Tucker Alch in the fourth inning and was credited with the win, while Tyler Hamilton, Tom Vincent (who now pitches for Tulane), and Davion Hickson allowed no hits in the final 2.1 innings to preserve the win.
PIERCE AND TULANE: David Pierce was named the 23rd head baseball coach at Tulane on June 8, 2014, and posted a 76-46 mark in two seasons coaching the Green Wave, leading them to a pair of NCAA appearances. Pierce is 0-4 in his career as a head coach when facing Tulane. The Green Wave defeated Pierce and Sam Houston State 2-0 on 2/15/13, and they took all three games of the Rice-Tulane series last season in New Orleans
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