●Nathan Shiga: September 5, 2017

On the 4th day of the U18 World Cup Baseball, Japan downed the Dutch 3-1 to wrap up Round 1 with 3 wins against 1 loss to advance to Round 2.

The game kicked off with Japan having bad time handling the Dutch pitcher mixing fast balls in the 140kms’ and sharp change-ups up until the 5th inning.

Japan found a way out of the standstill in the 6th inning by stealing a base and dragging a bunt to shake up the opponents. A pickoff attempt failure and a wild pitch on the part of the Dutch helped the Japanese team to earn 2 runs to lead the game.

In the 8th inning, Kyota Fujiwara of Osaka Toin High School hit a double to bring in another run.

On the pitching side, Souma Tokuyama of Osaka Toin High School pitched the first five innings, giving up only one run. Fumimaru Taura of Shugakukan High School relieved in the 6th inning and checked the Dutch scoreless throughout the game.

Fumimaru Taura commented after his impressive feat:

“My buddies had gone all out to earn those 3 runs, so I thought I should do whatever to shut out the opponents.

“I think my change-ups worked rather well this time. I’ll keep up my condition to ready myself for the next chance to pitch.”

Kazuya Maruyama of Maebashi Ikuei High School who belted two hits and stole a base to reverse the tide recalled:

“Well, my job is to pep up the team, you see. I started off a bit too late but managed to steal a base. I’ll do everything I can to boost our morale.”

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