Kosei Gakuin became the first school from Aomori Prefecture in 31 years to advance to the semifinals of the national high school baseball championship with a 2-1 triumph over Kagoshima's Shonan on Saturday.
Hirotaka Neichi notched 12 strikeouts to pace the Kosei Gakuin win and pit the Aomori school against spring invitational runnerup Chiben Wakayama in Sunday's first semifinal at Koshien Stadium.
In Saturday's finale, Chiben Wakayama rallied for four runs in the eighth inning on home runs by Shinichi Takeuchi and Shumpei Yamano and then grabbed a 7-6 "sayonara" victory in the 11th inning over Fukuoka's Yanagawa high school and ace pitcher Ryota Katsuki. In Saturday's other quarterfinals, local favorite Ikuei rallied past Nagasaki Nichidai 8-7 and Tokaidai Urayasu of Chiba stopped 1998 champion Yokohama 2-1 on a three-hitter by Sho Hamana.