Tickets for the Shriners Children’s College Classic, held annually at Minute Maid Park in Houston, are on sale now.
The weekend event, scheduled for March 3-5, 2023, features top programs in college baseball, including Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, Rice, Louisville, and Michigan. Nine games are on the round-robin schedule.
Five of the six teams partaking in the event played postseason baseball in 2022, with Texas A&M going to Omaha for the College World Series. Also, half of the teams finished ranked in the Top 25.
Louisville is making their first appearance in the event. Under Dan McDonnell, the Cardinals finished 42-21-1 in 2022 with a trip to the Super Regionals, where they lost to the Aggies of Texas A&M. They are scheduled to play on the Friday night of the weekend.
Michigan is also making its Shriners Classic debut. The Wolverines finished 34-28 in 2022 where they bowed out in the Louisville regional. This will be the first Big Ten team to partake in the tournament since Nebraska in 2015.
Rice, who holds the tournament record with 30 wins all-time, will be making their 18th appearance in the Shriners Classic. This will be the Owls’ first appearance under Jose Cruz Jr., which is the son of Astros great Jose Cruz. 2023 will be the second season for Cruz Jr. in charge at Rice.
TCU is making its 10th trip to Minute Maid Park with a tournament record of 17-10. This is the Horned Frogs’ first appearance under Kirk Saarloos, who took over TCU in June 2021. Saarloos, who pitched for the Astros, led TCU to a Big 12 championship last season with a 38-22 record and a regional appearance.
Texas A&M is returning to the tournament for the 10th time in its history, the first since 2019. The Aggies won the tournament with a 3-0 record. The Aggies will be led by Jim Schlossnagle, who has coached at the Classic in seven different seasons while at TCU. The Aggies are coming off a 44-20 season and an appearance in the College World Series.
Texas Tech will make its 12th appearance in the Classic. The Red Raiders are led by Tim Tadlock, who has brought his team to four CWS in the last nine years and has won three of the last six Big 12 Championships. Tech went 39-22 in 2022 and a regional appearance.
The Shriner’s Classic has fielded 33 teams in the 22 years of its existence and has seen plenty of future Major Leaguers, including Alex Bregman, Max Muncy, Gerritt Cole, David Price, Matt Carpenter, and Anthony Rendon. The tournament typically attracts 100 scouts from all 30 MLB teams.
The 2023 tournament is the eighth in a naming rights partnership between the Astros Foundation and Shriners Children’s. The Astros Foundation operates the tournament and donates a portion of ticket sales directly to Shriners as well as other fundraising and awareness opportunities.
2023 SHRINERS CHILDREN’S COLLEGE CLASSIC SCHEDULE*
Friday, March 3
Rice vs. TCU 11 a.m.
Michigan vs. Texas Tech 3 p.m.
Louisville vs. Texas A&M 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 4
TCU vs. Michigan 11 a.m.
Rice vs. Louisville 3 p.m.
Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 5
Louisville vs. TCU 11 a.m.
Michigan vs. Texas A&M 3 p.m.
Texas Tech vs. Rice 7 p.m.