HOUSTON – A challenging slate of 55 regular season games, including 30 at Reckling Park and another two in the greater Houston area, comprise the Rice baseball program’s upcoming 2017 schedule Owls head coach Wayne Graham announced on Friday (Oct. 7).
Rice opens the spring slate on Feb. 17 with a four-game weekend series on the road at longtime rival Texas. The Owls return the following week to begin a stretch of playing 12 of its next 14 games at home. The 2017 home opener is set for Feb. 21 (Tues.) against Dallas Baptist, followed by a three-game home weekend series against a Southeastern Louisiana squad Rice faced in the NCAA Tournament last spring.
Regional participants Dallas Baptist and Southeastern Louisiana are just two of the talented teams visiting Reckling Park in 2017. Longtime powerhouse Stanford visits Rice for a four-game series in March. The Owls also welcome Pepperdine, Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech, Florida International, UTSA, Middle Tennessee, Sam Houston State, Lamar, Texas State and crosstown rival Houston to comprise the home slate.
The road games are some high RPI affairs, such as facing College World Series participant TCU in Fort Worth and Super Regional foe Texas A&M in College Station. Rice also plays at C-USA regular season champion Florida Atlantic, in addition to games at Old Dominion, Charlotte, UAB, Western Kentucky, Lamar, Texas State, Sam Houston State and Houston.
The Owls play a total of three games against crosstown rival Houston where the annual Silver Glove Trophy will be on the line. The first is at U.H. on April 4 with a second at Reckling Park on April 11. The series finale is set for May 9 at neutral site Constellation Field, the minor league home of the Sugar Land Skeeters.
Season ticket and single game information, as well as some special ticket packet & group options, will be available later this fall on the RiceOwls.com ticket page. All the official start times will be announced at a later date.
Now entering his 26th season at the helm of the Rice baseball program, coach Graham welcomes seven offensive starters returning in the batting order and eleven veteran pitchers. The Owls went 38-24 a year ago and made the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd consecutive season. The Blue & Gray have won or shared a conference regular season or tournament title in 20 of the last 21 seasons.
2017 Rice Baseball Schedule (PDF)
