The media learned on Sunday that the Tohto University Baseball League is planning to play a 22 and under tournament against a team from Australia.  A date has not yet been decided, but the tournament is expected to take place next year or some time thereafter.  A name has already been selected: The Kangaroo Cup.

The Tohto team will be made up of players from universities in the first division.  Australia has not decided on their team format yet, but it seems there is a chance they may select both university and professional players.

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The Tohto University Baseball League held an 80th Anniversary Celebration at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in Tokyo on Sunday.  Around 1,800 people attended the event, including 12 former players currently active in the NPB, like Hiroki Kokubo (Aoyama Gakuin), Tadahito Iguchi (Aoyama Gakuin), Masanori Ishikawa (Aoyama Gakuin), Kentaro Kyuko (Aoyama Gakuin), Fumiya Nishiguchi (Rissho), Masaki Mnami (Rissho), Hiroshi Kisanuki (Asia), Takahiro Fujioka (Toyo).

Best Nine

The Tohto University Baseball League announced that their season will begin on 4/5 and end on 5/24 (a period of 8 weeks).  And on days when the Yakult Swallows need the stadium in the afternoon (during the month of April), they'll play just one game, beginning at 9am.

The league also decided on other things like: regular games will begin an hour earlier than last year (10am); and extra innings games that hit the 3-hour mark will not continue on into the next new inning.  And while the league plans on playing their season out at Jingu Stadium, they also left open the possibility that they'll move elsewhere if necessary.

The Tohto University Baseball League will also be donating 3M yen to relief efforts in northern Japan.

Tohto University Baseball League met today and decided that their season will start on 4/5.  Schedules will be released tomorrow afternoon.

The league also decided to cooperate with the Yakult Swallows and allow them to use Jingu Stadium to play day games on 4/19 and 4/20 (vs Chunichi).  In order to make the sure the two days aren't a complete waste, the league will also probably schedule 9am games on both days.

The Senshu University baseball team announced today that 54-year-old Kaoru Takahashi (高橋薫) will be taking over as manager, beginning in January.

Kokugakuin announced on Thursday that 34-year-old Yasutaka Toriyama (鳥山泰孝) was named manager of the university baseball team, backdated to the 11th.

Toriyama takes over for Toshiaki Takeda and was formerly the manager for the Shutoku High School (Tokyo) baseball team.

First Division

Second Dvision

Third Division

Fourth Divison

Aoyama Gakuin (2nd Division, first place) beat Rissho (1st Division, last place) 7-0 today to take the Replacements Series, 2-1.

6/5: Aoyama 3 - Rissho 1 (Game 1)
Yuto Fukushima gave up just 1 run in a complete game victory.  Final line: 9 IP, 34 BF, 5 H, 2 BB / HBP, 8 SO, 1 ER.

6/6: Rissho 3 - Aoyama 0 (Game 2)
Masaki Minami had a no hitter going until he gave up a single to the lead-off batter in the 8th.  Minami also topped out at 150km/h.  Final line: 8 IP, 31 BF, 137 NP, 1 H, 7 BB / HBP, 4 SO, 0 ER.

6/7: Aoyama 7 - Rissho 0 (Game 3)
Yuto Fukushima tossed a 7-0 complete game shutout.  Final line: 9 IP, 29 BF, 102 NP, 5 H, 0 BB / HBP, 6 SO, 0 ER.

First League

Awards

Best Nine

Second League

Awards

Third League

Awards

Fourth League

Awards*

* These totals don't appear to be the season totals, but that's all that was available at the official site.

Toyo University clinched the top spot of the Tohto University Baseball League (TUBL) with their 9-8 win over Kokushikan University today.  It is their 15th overall championship and first in two seasons (2009 Spring league).  They also win a spot at the 59th All-University Baseball Championships that take place in June.