The game was a first-round match in the Kanto regional qualifying tournament for the Meiji Jingu Baseball Tournament, with a berth in the national collegiate showcase at stake for the finalist.
Two runs in the first, then five straight swinging strikeouts
Baba, a fourth-year right-hander from Fukuoka Dai-Ōhori High School whom the Hanshin Tigers selected with the second pick in this year’s NPB draft, opened the game by walking leadoff hitter Haruta Tanaka of Tokyo International. After a sacrifice bunt, Masahiro Kimura and Masahiro Fukuda hit back-to-back RBI doubles, and the visitors went up 2-0.
Baba answered immediately. From the third out of the first inning through the leadoff man of the third, he retired five consecutive batters on swinging strikeouts, all on fastballs, and closed the third inning with three straight outs.
NSSU rallies to tie, then pulls away in the fifth
The hosts broke the tie in the fifth: Kazuhiro Fujimaki hit a two-run home run to the right-field stands with one out and a runner on second, and RBI hits by Kawaguchi and another teammate extended the lead to 7-2. Baba allowed one hit with one out in the fourth and struck out Yamagi and Muratsubaki back-to-back in the fifth, then retired Tanaka and Tamaki on called strikes to open the sixth before allowing a walk and a single that loaded the bases with one out. He escaped with a swinging strikeout of Kanta Sakamoto.
105 pitches, 11 strikeouts, rain ends it in the eighth
Baba left after six innings on 105 pitches, finishing with four hits, two walks, two runs and 11 strikeouts. Left-hander Shinnosuke Fujioka pitched the seventh and eighth innings without allowing a run, and with rain falling harder, the game was called in the middle of the eighth inning.
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