Yusei Kikuchi tosses an inning in relief
by Gen on Sep.28, 2009 @ 5:07 pm, under High School
Yusei Kikuchi made a relief appearance against Chukyodai Chukyo today and tossed a perfect inning.
Kikuchi entered the game in the 9th and struck out the side to help Hanamaki Higashi win, 6-4.
On a side note: Chukyodai Chukyo pitcher Shota Dobayashi and Kikuchi apparently promised each other that they would only throw heaters if they faced each other in the game. But as Dobayashi stepped in to bat against Kikuchi in the 9th as the lead-off batter, he was shown an off-speed pitch instead of a fastball.
It also seems like Dobayashi will be focusing on become a positional player (although I guess he already mentioned this in an earlier interview back on 9/8).
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And the results from Day 2 of the National Athletic Tournament:
Game 1
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Hanamaki Higashi | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Chukyodai Chukyo | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Game 2
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Miyakonojo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Saijo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Game 3
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Chiben Wakayama | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Nihon Bunri | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Game 4
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Tohoku | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Ken Gifu Sho | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | X | 5 |
=== UPDATE 9/28/2009 @ 8:48pm
Takumi Akiyama (Saijo) struck out 10 in 5 innings of work.
