Tournament debutant Seiho of Nagasaki Prefecture continued its surprise run in the national high school baseball championship Sunday, eliminating last year's runnerup Saibi from Ehime with a 9-4 victory in the second round.
Seiho jumped to a 5-0 lead after two innings and made it 8-2 in the seventh on a three-run homer by cleanup hitter Taiga Mori at Koshien Stadium.
The victory gave Seiho another chance of a giantkilling act in a third-round date with Osaka Toin.
In other second-round action, left-hander Takao Yoshinaga pitched a seven-hit shutout and Takuya Uemura drove in two runs as Yamaguchi's Ube Shogyo blanked first-timer Seisei Kogyo from Shizuoka. Sakata Minami of Yamagata Prefecture beat Okinawa Shogaku 4-2.