On 9 March, the opening match between Tohoku Rakuten and Saitama Seibu at Shizuoka Kusanagi Stadium was win by Saitama Seibu 7-4.

Saitama Seibu batted in the first inning against the opposing starter, Tatsuki Koja pitcher. Manaya Nishikawa 's hit and stolen base put runners on first and second with one out, and No. 4 and Reon Murata led off the inning with RBI singles. Taiga Hirasawa followed with two RBIs from triple and Seiya Watanabe followed with RBI singles to make it 4-0.

Starter Mitsunari Takahashi pitcher got off to a perfect start, closer the first and second innings of a three-run affair. He allowed his first hit in the third inning, but went 1 hit no walk 2 strike out 2 runs on 40 pitches in three innings. Starting in the fourth inning, Yuta Kuroki pitcher, Lopez pitcher and Shinnosuke Hada pitcher each connected 1 inning with no runs.

The Yankees added a run in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI doble by Shuta Tonosaki with two outs and the bases loaded. reliever runs in the seventh and eighth innings to close the gap to two runs, but in the top of the ninth, rookie Taiyo Sato hit put runners on second and third with one out. A two-run RBI single by Kiyoshi Watanabe made it 7-3.

In the bottom of the ninth, Ichiro Tamura pitcher gave up one run, but they were able to protect the lead and end the game. Saitama Seibu finished their second consecutive match in Shizuoka with back-to-back wins. Kiyoshi Watanabe made an impact with 2 hit 3 RBI, while Murata and Tozaki made their mark with 2 hit 1 RBI. pitcher Kuroki and pitcher Haneda closer the 1st inning retired 3 batters and showed good relief.

On the other hand, Tohoku Rakuten had a rough outing when starter Tatsuki Koja pitcher went 3 Walk 6 hit 1 strike out 4 runs on 67 pitches in three innings. Wataru Karashima pitcher, the sophomore, showed a steady pitch with 4 hit 1 strike out runs no walk 4 1 in 3 innings. Yukiya Ito players made their mark with 2 hit 2 RBI.

123456789 total
West 400000102 7
Easy 000000211 4

West: Mitsunari Takahashi, Yuta Kuroki, Lopez, Shinnosuke Hada, Yasushi Taishi Mameda, Haruto Yamada, Ichiro Tamura
Raku ● Tatsuki Koja-Wataru Karashima- Tarly -Sora Suzuki-Shoma Fujihira

Text by Hiroki Yashima

・ Match details/video