Samurai Japan's warmup effort on Monday came out half baked, as manager Hiroki Kokubo's squad lost 1-0 to a team selected from the rosters of the Pacific League's Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
Samurai Japan will open its five-game series against a team of visiting big leaguers on Wednesday in Osaka at Kyocera Dome.
"If you don't hit, you can't win," Kokubo said. "I think some of that was due to nerves, and hopefully that will be out of our system before the real thing starts. Toward the end, we appeared to be doing better."