The first game of the first stage of the 2025 Persol Climax Series first baseman League will be held at Escon ES CON FIELD from 2:00 p.m. on October 11th, between Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Orix.

[Season Results] Hokkaido Nippon-Ham (2nd place) vs. Orix (3rd place) 12 wins, 12 losses, and 1 draw

[Announced starting pitchers]
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham: pitcher Hiromi Ito 27 games, 14 wins, 8 losses, ERA 2.52
Orix: Shumpeita Yamashita pitcher 4 games, 1 win, 0 losses, 1.25 ERA

Looking at the season results, both teams are evenly matched with 12 wins, 12 losses and 1 draw. The starting pitchers announced at the press conference the day before were pitcher Hokkaido Nippon-Ham-Hiromi Ito Fighters and pitcher Shunpei Yamashita of Orix Shumpeita Yamashita.

pitcher Ito has been pitching well this season against Orix, with three wins in four games and ERA of 2.00. As the ace, he hopes to bring momentum to the team. Manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo also stated that he will be using Kotaro Kiyomiya as the fourth batter. He has been performing well since September, with a batting average of .330, and even against Orix he has a batting average of .308, but will he be able to live up to his promotion?

pitcher Yamashita, meanwhile, had a late start this season, returning to the first team in September, but pitched 21.2 innings in four games, including as reliever, with ERA of 1.25. He returned to the game against Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters on September 7th, but gave up a solo home run to Yuki Kiyomiya. With a lineup that tends to hit home runs, the team needs to be careful not to let their momentum slip away. On the batting side, Ryo Ota and Keita Nakagawa each had 6 hit in 13 At Bat-pitcher against Ito.

Written by Kai Nagi Niwa