Kosei Yoshida, the darling of the 2018 national high school championship for pitching Akita’s tiny Kanaashi Nogyo High School to the final, where he got trampled after throwing his arm into hell’s heat treatment for five games, returned to Koshien as a regular season starter for the first time as a pro on Sunday.

The Fighters had not been having much luck with their homecomings this weekend in their interleague bottom-feeders challenge series against the Hanshin Tigers, with whom manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo began his pro career as an infielder 30 or so years ago. Shinjo got a three-home run salute from Yusuke Oyama on Friday, as the Tigers’ first baseman dominated the series.

Well, let’s get to it.

Friday’s games

Tigers 8, Fighters 3: At Koshien Stadium, Yoshida (1-1) got out of a first-inning jam but couldn’t escape middle-of-the-order trouble the second time around. Tigers pitcher Masashi Ito (2-2) faced just nine batters over three innings before singling to open the third. Two-out Koji Chikamoto and Teruaki Sato singles made it 1-0 before Oyama’s three-run homer, his 13^th.