Hanamaki Higashi overcame highly touted left-hander Yusei Kikuchi's early exit to beat Meiho 7-6 in 10 innings in the quarterfinals of the National High School Baseball Championship on Friday.
Kikuchi had a sore back and left with a 4-1 lead after allowing just one hit and striking out four in 4 2/3 innings for the Iwate Prefecture school.
Oita's Meiho drew within 4-3 in the sixth and went ahead 6-4 in a three-run eighth.
But Hanamaki Higashi came right back to tie the score in the top of the ninth on a two-run single by Satomu Yokokura. Yuma Kawamura then singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th off hard-throwing right-hander Kenta Imamiya.
In the day's other quarterfinal game at Koshien Stadium, Yoshihito Takahashi hit a two-run homer among his three hits and Daichi Nakamura went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, leading Niigata's Nihon Bunri to an 11-3 rout of Shimane tournament debutant Risshodai Shonan.
Risshodai Shonan was missing five players, including captain Mao Hayashida, amid the spread of a new influenza virus within the team.