Vietnamese southpaw Nguyen Tran Phuoc An was steady for four-plus innings Sunday as Toyodai Himeji downed Gifu Mita 9-4 in the high school baseball national championship tourney.
An, a first-year student at the Hyogo school, gave up three runs on four hits in his stint at Koshien Stadium before Yusaku Hatayama came on to close the door and lift Toyodai Himeji into the second round of the summer classic.
In Sunday's first game, Ryoji Kamiya tripled and doubled to drive in three runs and then got two outs in the ninth inning as a relief pitcher as Hiroshima's Josuikan held on for an 8-4 win over Kanaashi Nogyo of Akita Pref.
In the first game of the second round, Kanazawa of Ishikawa Pref. erupted for seven runs in the fifth inning and sent Namerikawa home with a 13-4 victory after the Toyama school had waited 45 years to return to the tournament.