First-year manager Trey Hillman celebrated the opening day of the 2003 preseason exhibition schedule with his first taste of victory in Japan as the Nippon Ham Fighters defeated the Chunichi Dragons 8-5 on Saturday.
In the only other game of the day, Daisuke Yamashita, another rookie manager, and his Yokohama BayStars downed the Yakult Swallows 8-3 in a 25-hit slugfest.
"Our players proved they can hit. They did everything I'm hoping to see from them throughout the season. But, this is just a preseason game and we're going to have to raise our level some more," said Yamashita.
At Nago Municipal Stadium, Carlos Mirabal (1-0) pitched three-hit ball with three strikeouts and a walk over five innings as Nippon Ham took a 7-0 lead into the fifth inning.
The Tokyo club transferring its base to Sapporo next year overcame a late scare when Hidenori Kuramoto, Ivan Cruz and Masahiko Morino each hit homers -- all off Hiroyuki Sekine -- in the sixth and seventh innings to pull within two runs.
In Urasoe, Okinawa Prefecture, cleanup hitter Katsuaki Furuki went 3-for-4 and drove in three RBIs, and Tyrone Woods added two more for Yokohama.