Six of the starting nine had multi-hit games and Shota Higa homered in a five-run second inning Monday as Okinawa Shogaku produced 18 hits to defeat Aomori Yamada 16-3 in the first round of the national high school invitational baseball tournament.
The Okinawa school, which won the annual spring championship at Koshien in 1999, scored 10 runs through the fourth and another five in the eighth while Yuki Maetake pitched a complete game.
In the other game played Monday, Ehime's Saijo held off Urawa Gakuin of Saitama Prefecture 4-3. Saijo outfielder Yoshinori Nomura went 3-for-4 with two RBI singles.
Saijo's previous victory came 16 years ago, when the school made its last appearance at Koshien.