A baseball game at Rice University

I spent a few hours today at Reckling Park, Rice University's sparkling jewel of a baseball stadium. If you like baseball - or just being outdoors on a warm early spring afternoon - there are few better places to while away a couple of hours than at Reckling. Comfortable (if somewhat hard) seats, unobstructed views, a most imposing backdrop (Texas Medical Center) and of course, some of the best collegiate baseball to be seen anywhere in the USA.  Not to mention some pretty nice looking (I didn't try them...) Prince's hot dogs and hamburgers. And beer.

I'm a big baseball fan but today it was all about getting a few close-up photographs.  I took the 200-400mm zoom lens and added a 1.4 extender, making for an effective focal distance of 300-600mm.  As it turned out I got more than a few; tough to decide which ones to throw out... Here are quite a few pics of starting pitcher Austin Kubitza, a freshman who seemed very cool and totally in command on the mound.  Plus a few others of some of the hitters in action; or at least attempting to produce some hits.  On the day the Rice offense did not come through; once or twice they had several runners on base but the crucial hits just didn't materialize.  As a result Rice lost to Stanford 6-2.