Yoshitsugu Yamaguchi, Taro Kosugi and Takuma Hori each doubled as Osaka Toin broke a tie in the seventh inning and went on to rout Yokohama 11-6 on the first day of action at the National High School Baseball Championship on Sunday.
Defending champion Komadai Tomakomai of Hokkaido leads the procession of 49 schools in the opening ceremony of the 88th annual National High School Baseball Championship at Koshien Stadium.
KYODO PHOTO
The Osaka school, which reached the semifinals of last year's summer tournament, upset the spring invitational titlist from Kanagawa, rapping out five hits in the seventh to turn a 2-2 tie into a 6-2 lead in the first-round game at Koshien Stadium. In the eighth, Shogo Shashiki hit a three-run home run and Sho Nakata followed with a solo drive. Osaka Toin first added to the damage on a squeeze bunt with one out and knocked the wind out of Yokohama's sails with consecutive homers from Shashiki and Nakata to put the game out of reach in the five-run frame.
In another first-round game, Yuki Saito threw a three-hitter yielding one run over eight strong innings and Yujiro Higaki drove in six runs on 2-for-5 hitting as Tokyo's Waseda Jitsugyo crushed Tsurusaki Kogyo of Oita 13-1 to reach the second round. In the day's opening game, Ryota Maeda hit a two-run homer off reliever Takefumi Otakeguchi to rally Kochi Shogyo from behind in a four-run sixth inning en route to a 10-7 victory over tournament debutant Shirakaba Gakuen of Hokkaido in a 26-hit slugfest.
Earlier, Komadai Tomakomai of Hokkaido, which is aiming to win the summer title for the third consecutive year, led the procession of 49 schools, which entered Koshien Stadium in order from south to north.