Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 336 - 189: The Mad Pitchers’ Duel

In the hotel room, even though it was already late, Lin Guanglai was still engrossed in studying the information collected by the team managers about tomorrow’s opponents.

Ogata Kazuyoshi, having just come out of the bath, saw him like this and couldn’t help but say:

"Guanglai, it’s your turn to bathe—are you still studying Tokogakuen Academy? Ever since the draw for the quarter-finals came out, it seems like you’ve been studying the opponents constantly, and Mr. Izumi too, just analyzing that pitcher named Matsui Yuuki took a long time... I understand taking the game seriously, but Guanglai, do we really need to go to this extent..."

"Yes, I admit that Matsui is very strong. Striking out 22 in a single game is indeed intimidating—but Guanglai, think about it. Today against Uozaki Shou, he threw over 140 pitches. According to their manager’s strategy, there’s a good chance he won’t start tomorrow, right? And even if, by some chance, Matsui does start, I doubt he can strike out like that again after pitching two games in less than 24 hours..."

Seeing Ogata Kazuyoshi getting more excited as he spoke, Lin Guanglai remained silent temporarily—he knew that his teammates actually didn’t look down on tomorrow’s opponents; on the contrary, these teammates who haven’t tasted victory as starters probably desire the win more than Lin Guanglai himself.

They were merely sympathizing with Lin Guanglai.

This year’s Summer League, Waseda’s form was much more outstanding than in the spring, easily overcoming their opponents in the previous rounds.

On August 11, in the first round, they won 3-0 against Fukushima’s representative, Holy Light Academy, with Lin Guanglai pitching a complete game, allowing only 3 hits for a shutout victory.

Six days later, in the second round, they won 11-1 against Saitama’s representative, Urawa Academy, again with Lin Guanglai starting. This time he pitched 8 innings, still not allowing a run.

On August 19, in the third round, they won 6-2 against Nara’s representative, Celestial Principle High School, with Lin Guanglai coming in as a reliever to close, pitching two innings without conceding a run.

In three games, he pitched a total of 19 innings, still maintaining an unbeaten record, with no team able to score even 1 run off of him—such performance, in any other year, would surely make him the focal point of the media and draw the attention of baseball fans nationwide.

But this year, Matsui Yuuki’s popularity was even hotter than Lin Guanglai’s.

Ever since the first-round game against Imabari Nishi, where he struck out 22 in a single game, breaking the Summer League record and tying the combined spring-summer record, Matsui Yuuki became the super-hot topic throughout all of Japan this summer.

Many journalists believe he will be the next leader in high school baseball, carrying the flag after Lin Guanglai and his golden generation graduate; some even more radical views have already started comparing Matsui to Lin, Fujinami, Ohtani, and others, suggesting that this ’Strikeout Machine’ sophomore can stand equal to these predecessors—after all, even the most mature of the ’Big Three,’ Lin Guanglai, never had such a phenomenal performance of at least 15 strikeouts per game throughout an entire summer during his sophomore year.

The Waseda players didn’t know much about Matsui Yuuki and had no ill will towards him, but given some media’s misleading comparisons, they naturally weren’t too fond of him either.

Especially after the quarter-final draw two days ago, where Waseda happened to draw Tokogakuen Academy—this result allowed the journalists to seize the opportunity to hype the match, which was exactly what the Waseda players, already holding a grudge, wanted to see.

These players had long planned to make Matsui Yuuki, the hot new star, fully experience the strength of the Koshien quarter-finals.

As for Lin Guanglai himself, although not as emotionally charged as his teammates, he was still a 17-year-old boy, and to say he had no thoughts at all would be impossible—when tomorrow’s game begins, he will let his pitching do the talking!

The night quickly passed, and early the next morning, the Waseda players set off from the hotel to Koshien Stadium: their match was scheduled for the early slot today, at least it wouldn’t be as hot as the noon matches, which was a small blessing.

With the air raid siren sounding, and with the umpire’s right-hand signal, the first quarter-final match between Waseda Real and Tokogakuen Academy officially began.

In this game, Waseda batted first.

On the mound, Matsui Yuuki appeared completely at ease, showing no signs of having thrown over 140 pitches just 24 hours earlier; and quickly, he used his actual pitching performance to prove to today’s opponent, Waseda Real, that all the summer’s praise was entirely deserved.

"Strikeout!"

"Strikeout!"

"Strikeout!"

Once again, three consecutive strikeouts at the start of the game, Matsui Yuuki, with his baby face, turned fierce as soon as he stood on the mound, igniting the entire Koshien Stadium with his performance.

The audience in attendance gave him a warm round of applause while also turning their eyes to Lin Guanglai on the bench: in this showdown of ace pitchers, the audience anticipated that Lin Guanglai would also respond in kind.

Amidst all the attention, Lin Guanglai slowly walked onto the mound, starting his pregame practice throws—the powerful sound of the ball hitting the glove during just his practice pitches allowed the audience to feel the extraordinary speed of the ball.

And those who felt this most acutely were probably the three batters from Kiyonokura Academy stepping up in the top of the first inning: from their perspective, the ball seemed to fly out of Lin Guanglai’s hand one moment and instantly appeared in the catcher’s glove the next, giving them no time to react at all.

If Matsui Yuuki’s pitching relied on a deceptive combination of fastballs, sliders, and curves to confound batters, making it difficult for them to predict his next pitch, then Lin Guanglai had returned to the most primitive form of brute-force aesthetics. After taking advice to reduce slider usage, his arsenal was now mostly dominated by fastballs, focusing on sheer power. Though different in style, both were equally effective.

"Strikeout!"

"Strikeout!"

"Strikeout!"

The same three up, three down inning with three consecutive strikeouts showed that two pitchers, with similar yet different styles, were evenly matched in the first inning on the Koshien stage.

On the stands, those purely there to enjoy the high-stakes excitement of a high school duel had a feeling: this game was likely to become extraordinarily intense.