Advance tickets for the Higashi Nihon Earthquake Relief Baseball Match supported by Konami go on sale begin tomorrow.

Fans can purchase tickets at the NPB official site (February 3 at 10:00 until March 9 at 23:00), or one of the following ticket agencies (February 3 at 10:00 until February 15 at 18:00): e+, Circle K Sunkus/Ticket Pia, or Lawson.

Regular tickets will go on sale beginning on February 18 at 10:00.

For more information, check the NPB official site (in Japanese).

Ticket Prices

Game 1 (University vs Industrial)

Game 3 (Samura Japan vs CPBL)

Two Game Set

* denotes tickets that will only be available via NPB's ticketing system

Saibus Gas announced today that their baseball team was accepted into the Japan Amateur Baseball Association, effective beginning today.  The team will officially begin operations on April 1.  Yasuhiko Sugimoto has unofficially been selected to manage the team.

Former KomazawaDai Tomakomai High School manager Yoshifumi Koda (40) will be joining the new Saibu Gas Industrial League team as a coach.

As manager of KomazawaDai Tomakomai, Koda got to the Spring Koshien twice and Summer Koshien six times.  He also managed Masahiro Tanaka (RAK).  Koda left KomazawaDai Tomakomai in 2008 and became a member of the Tsurumi University coaching staff in the same year.

The NPB held a press conference at a hotel in Tokyo today and officially announced the Higashi Nihon Earthquake Relief Baseball Match scheduled on March 10 at Tokyo Dome.

Schedule:

Game 1 - Mixed Industrial League Team vs Mixed University Team - 12:00
Game 2 - Samurai Japan vs CPBL Mixed Team - 18:25

Tickets:

Via the NPB's special site: February 3 at 10am - March 9 at 23:00
Advance tickets: February 3 at 10am - February 15 at 18:00
Regular tickets: February 18 at 10am -

TBS will be broadcast both the NPB vs CPBL game and the Mixed University team vs the Mixed Industrial League team

UPDATE @ 9:24pm - All players named to the Samurai Japan roster will be receiving Samurai Japan pin badges.  Designs for the badges will change with each tournament.

Koji Akiyama on the players that were selected to the roster:

Being a title holder [was an important factor].  And within that, young players with bright futures.  Chances to play in international games do not come very often.  I think their experiences playing for Samurai Japan will lead to their successes.  We kept that in mind when making our selections.

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Samurai Japan Roster

Additional Notes:

• Masahiro Tanaka will most likely start the game for the NPB and go about three innings.
• Takahiro Arai is the oldest player on the roster.

The Hyogo Prefectural Police announced today that their baseball team, Kenkei Momotaro, became an official JABA Club Team, dated January 1, 2012.  Their official season is slated to begin in April.

This is the second police team to be recognized as a JABA Club Team.  The other: The Keishcho Baseball Team (Tokyo) on 3/9/2011.

The media learned on Thursday that former Nippon Ham Fighter Mitsujiro Sakai (43) will be taking over as pitching coach for Nihon Seimei.  The previous pitcher coach, Yoshikazu Doi (42), decided to step down in order to focus more of his time on work with the parent company.

Sakai spent a a number of years coaching in Taiwain (1999-2007; both for the national team and for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions) before joining the Yokohama Bay Stars as a scout in 2008.  He then became a pitching coach for the the Shinano Grandserows in 2011.

The Japan Amateur Baseball Association plans to uphold the 20-second rule in 2012 in order to shorten games.

"Inter-City Tournament games last year averaged about 2 hours and 43 minutes.  In order to shorten that a bit more, we will have the second base ump carry a stop-watch," said Takashi Nakamoto, head of the Umpire's Regulations Committee.

The 20-second rule covers the time it takes the pitcher to pitch the ball after getting it back from the catcher when there are no runners on base.

The Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA) held a seminar for coaches in Atami, Shizuoka on Saturday.  JABA chairman Norio Ichino also made it known that the association was thinking about organizing the Industrial League schedule so that the tournament season ends in October (instead of in November), beginning in 2014.

As part of this move, the Inter-City Tournament was pushed up to July this year, a first since 2001.  The association also wanted to move the Industrial League Championships up a month as well, but decided it would not be possible until at least next year (the last time they took place in October was in 2002).

The goal of ending the tournament season in October is to increase the amount of time players put in with their respective companies.

The media learned on Monday that Saibu Gas will be naming Yasuhiko Sugimoto (52) the manager for their new baseball team.

Sugimoto managed the Nippon Tsuun (Nippon Express Co) Industrial League team for nine years beginning in 1992 and helped guide them to the Inter-city Tournament finals twice (1993, 1997).  He was also the manager for the national team in 2005 (Asia Baseball Championship) and 2009 (IBAF World Cup).

UPDATE @ 10:25pm - The Saibu Gas team will begin with a total 18 members.

See also:

Saibu Gas planning to establish a new baseball club in April 2012

The media learned on Thursday that Makoto Sasaki (46) will be promoted from batting coach to manager of NTT Nishi Nihon (Industrial League).  Current manager Tetsuya Hashimoto (47) will be retiring in order to focus his attention on his work at the parent company.

UPDATE 12/26 @ 11:44pm - NTT Nishi Nihon officially announced today that Sasaki will be taking over as their new manager, effective 1/1/2012.