Rice University will have a baseball and educational trip to Cuba in November

Rice University is going to have a "baseball and educational" trip to Cuba during the upcoming fall. 

The details of the trip are going to be released at a press conference on Thursday at the university campus in Houston, Texas.

Preliminary information indicates that the trip will include professors of the institution as well as baseball athletes from the Rice Owls team who will have a friendly match in November with counterparts in Cuba, sources close to the plan told the Houston Chronicle.

The visit is believed to be the first-of-its-kind collegiate trip combining sports and academics since President Barack Obama announced the restoration of diplomatic relations with the island nation. 

The Houston Chronicle previously reported in April that Rice was in the planning stages of this trip.

The Rice baseball team the Owls – annually one of the top collegiate baseball programs in the nation – would most likely play a series of exhibitions against teams from the Cuban Baseball Federation.

This is believed to be the first time Rice baseball has made a preseason trip outside the U.S., which the NCAA allows teams to do every four years.

The visit also would include educational and cultural experiences, the source said.

There have been several other collegiate teams visit Cuba in the post-revolutionary era, most recently in 2015 with Princeton's track and field, Coastal Carolina's men's basketball team and baseball teams from Penn State and Richmond.

Division I baseball teams to visit Cuba include Washington (2000), Tennessee (2002), Southern California (2004), Alabama (2008), Penn State and Richmond.

Rice won the national championship in 2003. The Owls have either won or shared 20 consecutive conference regular season or tournament titles. At 25-13, the Owls are currently in second place in Conference USA and in position for a 22nd straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

Olivia.Tallet@chron.com

Twitter: @OliviaPTallet