NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. – Takuya Oshikiri hit a go-ahead double and Mauricio Katayama pitched his third straight complete game as Haguro of Yamagata beat Aichi’s Toho 5-1 in the quarterfinals of the national high school invitational baseball tournament Saturday.
Oshikiri’s clutch hitting broke a 1-1 tie in the third inning and Haguro went on to pound Toho ace Tatsuo Kinoshita with 11 hits to become the first school from Yamagata Prefecture to reach the semifinals of the annual spring tournament at Koshien Stadium.
Katayama, a third-generation Japanese-Brazilian who has studied at Haguro since 2003 in the school’s exchange program, scattered eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk.
The right-hander was charged with an unearned run.
In Saturday’s other quarterfinal, Kamimura Gakuen of Kagoshima capitalized on Okinawa Shogaku’s defensive miscues to earn a 3-2 victory and advance to the semifinals in its first appearance in the tournament.
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