On 9 March, the opening match between Hokkaido Nippon-Ham and Chunichi in ES CON FIELD ended 1-0 with Hokkaido Nippon-Ham winning shutout game win.

​Hokkaido Nippon-Ham starter Koki Kitayama pitcher got off to a good start in the first inning, striking out three batters on just eight pitches. In the top of the second inning, he was hit by a pitch with two outs to put runners on first and second, but he retired the next three batters in a row inning closer the third inning and retired the next three batters on 50 pitches hit Hit by Pitch strike out runs mound in the fourth.

On the other hand, the batting line struggled in front of opposing starter Mejia pitcher, unable to get a single runner in the first three inning. Still, in the bottom of the fourth, Ryota Isobata led off the inning with a Walk and scored on a stolen base on a one-out grounder to third base on Martinez's infield grounder.

​Koji Fukutani pitcher closer in the top of the fifth inning and runs Hiromi Ito in the sixth inning pitcher to mound. After closer two consecutive inning and two outs in the top of the eighth, he was pinch-hit with two outs and the bases loaded, but he was able to get the next two runners on struck out runs out. In the top of the ninth inning with a one-run lead, Kotaro Seimiya pitcher loaded the bases with one out and Walk with one out, and with two outs to stolen base put runner in scoring position, he struck out Seichi Uebayashi to end the inning.

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham win the third, pitcher Ito, threw 47 pitches in three innings hit 1 Walk 5 strike out and runs. In the batting lineup, Kengo Yoshida is the team's only hit player.

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Naka: Mejia - Masayoshi Katsuno - Tsunenori Saito - Walters - Sho Iwasaki
Sun ○ Koki Kitayama-Koji Fukutani-Hiromi Ito- S Kotaro Seimiya

Text by Aoi Yokoyama

・ Match details/video