BOGYORPAR. Rice is the best academic school in Texas, hands down. They are not discussed much here as until recently they mostly had TX kids on their roster. (it still is TX dominated) It was on my son's list, but he was not on theirs. 
As PG pointed out they are a baseball powerhouse and a few years ago they consistently had the most power arms in all of college baseball.
Also one comment to UCSB.
"If a kid has the academics of Ivies and baseball skills of UCSB, he would probably go to Cal or Stanford."
UCSB was one of the final three on my son's list (2011) but they were in the middle of a coaching change. He did not get an offer from Stanford, but did from one Ivy. All you would have to do is visit the campus to know how far from the truth that statement is to a young male athlete. 