Chapter Text
Their first game went rather well, that was if it could even be called a game since it looked more like a one-sided massacre.
The batting order decided by Tesshin was: Kuramochi, Ryosuke, Jun, Tetsu, Masuko, Furuya, Shirasu, Miyauchi and, finally, Sakai.
Seidou was attacking first and they had just found out that it would be Maimon’s number 10 pitching instead of the ace so they had little to no information on him. Chris, knowing about this from his former timeline, decided to give the first two batters a little push.
“Kuramochi.” The catcher called. “You’re the first batter, your job is to get on a base so aim for the first pitch and let Ryosuke do the rest, his style is more suitable to show us what the pitcher can do. I’m expecting that those guys will do things by the book so it’s very likely that the first pitch is an out-low fastball but be careful with that speed, it’s slow to the point of throwing off our timing since we are used to hitting much faster pitches. Those pitches are only slightly faster than Eijun’s circle change-up.”
The shortstop nodded in understanding before Chris turned to the second basemen. “Ryosuke, you should try for a foul if you think you won’t get the timing down on the first try. There’s no need to pull hard, low and strong hits will be better with this type of pitcher. I want to get, at least, a run or two here to create some momentum for Furuya to pitch.”
Tesshin, who had heard the conversation, concealed the proud smile that tried to show itself on his face. It was amazing that their captain was doing his best to help the team despite not being scheduled to play for the day.
As the game started, Mochi entered the batter box and waited for the first pitch before swinging, stepping in without hesitation.
‘Woah! It really was a low-outside fastball.’ The shortstop marveled from his place on second base as he took off his guards. ‘It was so slow! If Chris-senpai hadn’t warned me, I would have been in trouble.’
Ryosuke was next. During his at-bat, Mochi managed to steal to third as Seidou’s second basemen didn’t swing at balls and fouled the first strike before managing to hit behind the third basemen, scoring the first run and landing himself on first easily.
Jun only managed a pop-fly to the right-fielder but both Tetsu and Masuko managed to hit, scoring two more runs. Furuya was strikeout but Shirasu managed a hit, landing himself on first and advancing Masuko to third before Miyauchi hit another pop-fly that sent Masuko home for Seidou’s fourth run.
As the umpire called for change sides, Maimon’s players went back to their dugout in a daze. Losing four runs in the first inning alone was hard for a defensive team like theirs.
‘No way…’ Maimon’s Chiba-kantoku thought, shocked. ‘They weren’t underestimating us? No, that can’t be! But, Minamidaira is our secret weapon! How can they know about him?’
“Don’t mind, don’t mind!” The coach said, trying to keep his composure. “We’ll take back those runs. Look! They sent a first-year to the mound. See, they’re underestimating us.”
‘I really don’t think it’s like that… Not that Chiba-kantoku will listen if I tell him.’ Tanaka thought with a frown. ‘They have a third-year pitcher that is clearly ace material but their ace is a first-year. We can’t look down on this kid just because he is a first-year.’
When Furuya finished the inning with three strikeouts, the momentum was all on Seidou’s side and, even when Toujou took the mound on the fourth with Miyuki catching for him, it never left. The game finished quickly in five innings with a final score of 23-0.
Everyone from Maimon West was crying but they were also in shock. They had worked hard yet not only couldn’t score a run but also couldn’t even get on a base. Not to mention the sheer amount of runs that they suffered in only five innings.
As both teams lined up on the field, Eijun found himself in front of Maimon’s number 10 with Kazuya and Chris to either side of him.
“We are going to Koshien.” Eijun blurted out when he was shaking the opponent’s pitcher’s hand, whose eyes widened. “We’ll make sure that you can say that you lost to the best high school baseball team in Japan so please keep an eye on us.”
Golden eyes pierced the shocked third-year pitcher before the first-year turned away and walked to Seidou’s dugout determinately, the number one on his back displayed with pride to the Maimon players that had heard the conversation.
“That idiot!” Kazuya face-palmed before smiling fondly. “Why is he putting that kind of pressure on us?”
“He wouldn’t be Eijun if he didn’t act on his emotions.” Chris smiled before turning to walk away and speaking over his shoulder. “I guess we’ll just have to make sure that we win so our little ace isn’t made a liar.”
“Not you too, Yuu-san! Well, it’s not like we intend to lose, anyway so I guess it’s alright.” Kazuya sighed before shrugging with a small smile appearing on his face and following the other catcher under the stunned stares from Maimon’s players.
Minamidaira, still shaken from the pure conviction he saw in Seidou’s main battery, walked dazedly to the dugout and stopped in front of his coach.
“What’s wrong, Minamidaira?” Tanaka asked with a concerned frown when he noticed the pitcher looked dazed instead of sad like he was when he left the dugout to line up on the field. “Did something happen?”
“They… Those guys are seriously intending on winning and becoming the best team in Japan.” Maimon’s number 10 shared, shocking everyone. “It’s no wonder we lost so badly.”
---
Back at Seidou, everyone went straight to swing their bats after cleaning themselves and switching out of their uniforms.
That was how the principal and the vice-principal found the baseball team when they visited the training field, intent on congratulating Kataoka-kantoku for Seidou’s first match and the two couldn’t help but marvel at the players’ dedication after such an overwhelming victory.
While the vice-principal spewed some non-sense and got glared at by Tesshin and Rei, who were supervising the training, the other man looked dazedly at the team.
“I don’t pretend to know a lot about baseball, but…” The principal started, gaining the other adults’ attention. “Isn’t 23-0 in five innings an unusual result? Even if the other team was weak, aren’t 23 runs a bit too much? And why did you give the ace number to a first-year?”
“Maimon West was one of the weakest teams in the tournament, indeed, but this result shows more about our team’s strength than our opponent’s weakness.” Tesshin explained, pleasantly surprised with the principal’s unusual perspicacity. “Our team this year is on the level of some of the best University teams. I gave the ace number to Sawamura Eijun because everyone on the team acknowledges him as our ace. Tanba is a third-year and he is on the same level as Ichidai’s ace, Manaka Kaname but Sawamura is even better.”
“Are you saying that we currently have two pitchers that can rival a pitcher of a team that recently went to Koshien?” The principal asked, stupefied.
“Yes.” Tesshin nodded, smirking. “And we also have the second-year Kawakami who is a very strong closer and the two first-years that played in today’s match, Furuya and Toujou. You add our batters, which were already on national-level before but improved further since the Spring Tournament, and you’ll see how different our team is this year.”
“So, you’re confident that Seidou will go to Koshien?” The principal wondered.
“I am.” Tesshin announced, resolutely. “This is the best team we’ve had since I’ve become the head coach so I’d say that we can make it this year. However, we can never know for sure with baseball.”
“It won’t be easy but I believe that this is our year.” Oota boasted with a big smile. “Our players are very well trained, they think on their own and do their own plays with confidence. Lately, they’re even exchanging tips and training methods every chance they have.”
Before anyone could say anything they noticed Seidou’s ace running in their direction.
“Is everything alright, Sawamura?” Tesshin spoke with a concerned frown, his hand moving on its own to squeeze the pitcher’s right shoulder, reassuringly.
“Yes, boss.” Eijun smiled softly at the man. “I just wanted to ask if it would be possible for us to acquire a few wooden bats of the normal and the heavier types for practice… It might be a bit late to make a significant difference for the third-years but I believe that the first and second-years would benefit quite a bit from practicing with those. I have given one of my wooden bats of the heavier type that I outgrew to Haruichi at the beginning of the year and he said he has noticed a big difference in his power and swing speed compared to what he used to have. Shinji, Hideaki and Hiroomi are making better contact with the ball after I gave them one of my normal wooden bats for when Kaneda and I pitch for their batting practice.”
Tesshin’s expression went from concerned to surprised before turning contemplative for a few minutes. As the man seemed to emerge out of his thoughts, a smirk spread into his face while Rei had an excited smile and Oota looked slightly confused.
“So, you’re saying that you want to start training the first and second-years to be ready for the Fall Tournament. Is that it?” Tesshin inquired and then sighed in fond exasperation when he only received a sly smile. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Really? Cool! Thank you so much, boss! You’re the best!” Eijun exclaimed, beaming sunnily at the coach, who smiled back without thinking.
The principal and the vice-principal were frozen in shock since they saw the scary man smile for the first time while Rei looked away to hide a soft smile of her own.
“Sawamura-kun?” Oota interrupted the silence. “You talked about you pitching for some first-years’ batting practice?”
“Oh!” Eijun’s eyes lit in remembrance. “I started a group study with Haruichi, Shinji and Yoshikawa on the first day of classes. Hideaki, Hiroomi, Oka, Kaneda and Kariba joined us the day after when they heard of it and Furuya joined after he was promoted to the first-string. We have been training together since the beginning of the year so when I asked Yuu a week later to help me create an individual training plan for my friends, he was more than happy to do it.”
“I see.” Oota nodded. “I had wondered why that group seemed different from the other first years… So, it’s your doing Sawamura. I should have known, I don’t know why I am still surprised.”
Eijun smiled innocently with a mischievous gleam in his eyes, making Tesshin and Rei trade amused looks while Oota sighed, giving up on trying to predict what Seidou’s ace would do.
---
It was now the Monday after their first game. Kazuya and Mochi were fighting about something inane again while their classmates were watching commenting on the fact that, despite all their fighting, they were always together.
“They don’t have any friends.” One of the girls commented to her friends.
“Excuse the intrusion.” Someone spoke from the door, bowing at the room, gaining everyone’s attention before looking up with a smile and entering the classroom. “Kazuya!”
“Kazuya?” The same girl who had spoken earlier about the two members of the baseball team mouthed to her friends with wide eyes and receiving equally confused looks in return.
“Mochi-senpai, you’re not bullying Kazuya, are you?” Eijun smiled brightly at the shortstop but anyone could feel the dark aura coming out of the first-year as the teen looked at his roommate’s hand on his boyfriend’s shirt.
“Of course not, Eijun.” Mochi rushed to say with sweat forming on his forehead and quickly letting go of the catcher’s shirt.
“Good.” The pitcher smiled more sincerely at his roommate before turning to his boyfriend with a soft expression, extending a notebook. “I forgot to give you this at breakfast.”
“Your notes on the match against Maimon?” Kazuya asked, taking the notebook with an affectionate smile and receiving a nod. “Thank you, Eijun!”
The two teens stayed smiling at each other for a moment before Mochi coughed and ruined the moment which garnered him a glare from his friend and an eye-roll from his roommate before the pitcher noticed that everyone was staring at them and turned red.
“I have to go back to my classroom. See you at practice, Mochi-senpai, Kazuya.” Eijun spoke rushedly and started to run out of the room before pausing and turning to look at his roommate with a terrifying smile. “And don’t bully Kazuya, Mochi-senpai.”
Kuramochi nodded quickly, sweat pouring out of him before slumping into a chair when the first-year was out of sight.
“Damn! Eijun is downright terrifying sometimes.” Kuramochi sighed.
“Is he? I haven’t noticed.” Kazuya shrugged nonchalantly.
“That’s because you’re his favorite after Chris-senpai and Tetsu-san.” The shortstop glared at his classmate with a tick on his forehead. “Lucky bastard!”
The catcher smiled softly which irritated Kuramochi even more and prompted the girls in the class to surround the two, full of curiosity.
“Who was that?” One girl asked, sounding a bit desperate since she had a big crush on Kazuya.
The two baseball idiots traded a look before smirking. “Our ace, first-year Sawamura Eijun.”
“Ace?” The girl echoed in surprise.
“Yes. He is a genius, although he will deny it if you ask him.” Kazuya explained with a genuine smile. “He worked very hard since his first year in middle-school but, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to qualify for Koshien because his team wasn’t very good, only had 9 players and no relief pitcher. In his last tournament in middle-school, they reached the finals but lost with a score of 3-2. Those 3 runs were the only ones he allowed in the entire tournament.”
“I heard about that.” Mochi grinned with pride. “Eijun’s ERA in his last tournament in middle-school was the lowest ever recorded.”
“Yes, and his batting average wasn’t anything to scoff at either.” Kazuya shot back. “Although, it would have been higher if his opponents didn’t walk him intentionally so many times.”
“And his bunts are on a different level, too!” Mochi exclaimed before pausing with a grim expression. “Now that I think about it, Eijun really is head and shoulders above most high-school players.”
“That’s true but think about it... He came from a below-average team with no proper coach.” Kazuya explained with an unusually serious expression. “It must have been hard on him: building a team from scratch, becoming the captain, ace and clean-up batter while still a first-year, taking over the coaching of his teammates as a second-year after Yuu-san came to Seidou and not being able to carry his team to Koshien after all his efforts.”
The class was completely silent as they heard the catcher talking so much about the first-year pitcher. Kazuya didn’t speak much in the classroom so everyone tried to listen to what he was saying when he actually spoke.
“It’s true that Eijun has a natural talent for baseball.” Kazuya continued. “But… He also worked harder than anyone else and carried a team on his back, alone, for two years. It’s no wonder that he is so strong despite only being a first-year, his experience with baseball in middle-school is just on a different level from anyone else.”
The class was in awe at the catcher’s speech. They had never heard him compliment anyone and were surprised with this side of their classmate that they hadn’t even glimpsed at before.
“You’re having a lot of fun, aren’t you?” Mochi smirked, smugly. “You always talk a lot when you’re happy.”
“I do?” Kazuya asked, surprised.
“You do.” The shortstop nodded sagely before cackling loudly. “Although, if it’s about Eijun, you always talk a lot regardless of the situation.”
“Shut up.” The catcher grumbled, his cheeks tinted pink.
The girls were either very curious or very jealous but it was time for the next class so everyone was forced to go back to their seats.
---
Eijun was back on the first floor intending to go back to his classroom when he noticed a few girls looking into the classroom next door where Hideaki, Furuya and Haruichi were while giggling and pointing. He rolled his eyes at the fangirls before turning away towards his own classroom before nearly bumping into Chris who was exiting the room.
“Oh! Eijun, I was looking for you!” The catcher exclaimed, gaining the attention of the girls who recognized him as the captain of the baseball team despite the fact that he hadn’t played in the first game.
“Yuu! What’s going on?” Eijun smiled at his brother.
“Here.” Chris said while extending his arms. “These are the scorebooks of the past games of our next opponent and my notes on their pitchers and batters.”
“But I’m not playing in the next game.” The golden-eyed teen stated matter of factly.
“I know.” The catcher laughed softly. “But, after seeing your notes about our first game, I wanted to know your opinion on Murata.”
“Fine.” Eijun sighed with fond exasperation. “You’re lucky that you’re my brother and I like you or you would be done for by now.”
“Hai, hai.” Chris waved his hand dismissively as he started to walk away before turning his head to talk over his shoulder with a teasing smile. “I’m counting on you, ace-sama.”
As his brother’s back disappeared around the corner, Eijun sighed in resignation, a small smile spreading on his lips before he turned red from embarrassment when he noticed the fangirls that he had seen previously looking at him with stars in their eyes and he quickly ran into his own classroom so they wouldn’t try talking to him.
“Are you alright? You look terrible.” Kanemaru commented when the pitcher slumped into his seat.
“Just now, my brother decided to announce that I’m the ace for everyone to hear.” Eijun huffed in indignation. “There were fangirls there, Shinji! I hate fangirls!”
The third-basemen blinked before he burst out laughing. The teen couldn’t even get jealous since he knew about the pitcher’s past with fangirls and the sincere horror he felt just at the mention of it.
“At least, they didn’t chase you this time.” Kanemaru tried to comfort his friend before losing control of his laughter again.
Eijun just decided to ignore the other and started to prepare for the next class.
---
Students, alumni and fans of Seidou had all been in high spirits and eagerly awaiting the team’s second game. However, now that the day had come some looked at the field worriedly as they noticed the starting line-up.
“What is Kataoka-kantoku thinking?” One alumni whispered to his friend. “He benched most of the regulars! And that third-basemen… Isn’t he one of the first-year pitchers from the last match?”
Similars murmurs were heard around Seidou’s stand since the line-up was the following:
- batting first: third-baseman, Toujou Hideaki;
- batting second: shortstop, Kusunoki Fumiya;
- batting third: second-baseman, Kominato Haruichi;
- batting fourth: catcher, Takigawa Chris Yuu;
- batting fifth: center-fielder, Sakai Ichirou;
- batting sixth: left-fielder, Kadota Masaaki;
- batting seventh: first-baseman, Yamazaki Kunio;
- batting eight: right-fielder, Endou Naoki;
- batting ninth: pitcher, Tanba Koichiro.
However, the stadium was quickly quietened when Tanba managed to get three strikeouts out of Murata’s first three batters and Seidou’s batters started to score runs right from their first time in the offense.
Seidou’s second game was over about as fast as the first, called after the top of the fifth with a score of 12-0. The highlights of the game were Tanba’s pitching before he was changed out for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fourth, leaving the last inning for Nori and Chris and Haruichi’s home runs.
As Seidou’s managers were celebrating with the non-first-string players, there was a conversation that caught Rei’s attention.
“Can you believe it?” One of Seidou’s fans exclaimed. “That little pink-haired first-year hit a double and a 3 runs-homer on his debut match.”
“Yeah… It’s hard to believe that he could hit that long with a wooden bat having such a small body.” The first man’s friend nodded, still looking stupified with this turn of events.
“I guess Kataoka actually knows what he is doing.” The third one commented with a slightly bemused smile. “I mean, the guys who played today didn’t look that much different from the regulars.”
“Yeah, and with Tanba pitching so well, the momentum carried over to their batting.” The second one shook his head with a small self-deprecating smile. “I feel like we have been put in our place for doubting Kataoka-kantoku.”
“That’s all true but… Didn’t any of you notice their pitchers’ line-up?” A fourth man, who had been quiet until then, spoke with chagrin. “There’s Furuya, the monster first-year; Toujou, the first-year who has a more conventional pitching style; Kawakami, who seems to have gained a lot more confidence compared to last year; And finally, Tanba, who had a performance worthy of the ace number today. Doesn’t it make you wonder how good their first-year ace is?”
“You’re right!” The first one gaped. “If he was chosen to be the ace as a first-year when Seidou has this kind of pitchers’ line-up, he must be quite the monster pitcher!”
“I don’t know if ‘monster’ even covers it.” One of the alumni that was passing by and heard the conversation, pitched in, quietly. “I saw Sawamura pitching in a practice match against Osaka Kiryu’s regulars a few weeks ago that ended with a final score of 12-0 in Seidou’s favor. The little guy pitched nine innings and only gave up two single-base hits, despite the fact that he was probably exhausted from the Summer camp of hell that Seidou holds every year by that time, not to mention the 3 runs homer that he scored in the second inning.”
“Really?” The three men asked with various degrees of incredulity.
“Yes, but that wasn’t even the most surprising thing…” The alumni continued with a smirk and his voice even lower than before. “His fastballs were probably around 140km/h, but the batters were late in their swing. He pitched a lot of different breaking balls, though, and his control is very nearly perfect in most of those.”
“No way…” The three men mumbled under their breath as they watched the alumni walk away.
Rei couldn’t help but smirk at the men’s shock before walking away with the managers with a very pleased smile on her face.
---
During the match, in Public Murata East’s side of the stands, a group of teens dressed in their school uniforms with black sports bags beside them was watching the game with conflicted expressions. They had come to take a look at Furuya but were treated to Tanba’s first-rate pitching instead.
“Damn, this game will be called in the next inning! Seidou is really strong.” One of the boys commented. “And look! They’re putting Furuya as a pinch-hitter. Maybe they’ll have him pitching in the last inning.”
The others nodded and watched in awe as the first-year pitcher easily hit the ball over the center’s head and reached the second base.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m giving up before we even try but… Can we even do anything against Seidou?” Another teen blurted out with a defeated expression. “Their batters are insane and those aren’t even the regulars, not to mention that third-year pitcher that isn’t even the ace but would likely be able to stop most teams from scoring against him.”
“That is how it has to be.” A tall teen with glasses answers with a small smile. “It wouldn’t be worth it if we didn’t get a challenge.”
“Shun!” The two boys exclaimed.
“You think you can hold off their batters?” A third boy asked with a serious visage.
“I believe I can although I won’t know until we try.” Yoh Shunshin stated with more confidence than he felt.
The Taiwanese pitcher couldn’t help but be afraid of Seidou. The batters were already a given but the pitchers were getting on his nerves.
‘There’s this third-year, that Furuya that is said to be a monster, that third-basemen who played pitcher in the last match and, now, they just put in a second-year side-arm pitcher.’ Shunshin thought, sweating slightly. ‘And then there’s the first-year ace that is an incognito plus those two so-called genius catchers that take turns since last year while the other usually plays in the outfield, not to mention the third-year bullpen catcher that apparently played in the last match. Their combinations are endless! They can come up with various different game plans for every match. Can we even plan ahead against them?’
Despite their ace’s reassurance, the others still looked uneasy and it didn’t help when they heard a conversation happening in the row below them.
“Was it really necessary for us to come to watch this game, Minamidaira?” A dark-haired teen asked with a frown. “We already knew that Seidou would win… Seidou’s ace promised us that they would become the best team in Japan. Isn’t it alright for us to come only to the finals and then watch Koshien?”
“No!” Minamidaira shook his head. “He asked for us to watch them and we probably could learn something from them anyway. I have a feeling that we shouldn’t lose even one chance to watch him pitch… Since we don’t know when that will be, we’ll have to watch every game.”
“Fine.” The dark-haired teen grumbled. “But don’t come to complain to me if he isn’t any good and was just given the ace number to throw off their opponents.”
“Seidou is strong enough to rival Inashiro easily. Why would they bother to give the ace number to a random first-year just to mess with everyone?” Minamidaira frowned at his friend. “Don’t worry, it will be worthy!”
The dark-haired teen just huffed and they continued to watch the game while Akikawa’s players looked even more unsettled.
---
Eijun was sitting in between his brother and his boyfriend as they watched Akikawa’s game to scout their next opponent.
“That pitcher’s control on his fastballs is about as good as mine.” Seidou’s ace commented with an excited gleam in his eyes.
“That might be true but his fastballs aren’t nearly as fast nor have nearly as much spin as yours.” Kazuya pointed out with a smirk. “Besides, he seems to be pitching only fastballs while you need both hands to count the different types of pitches that you have in your repertoire.”
“From what I know, Yoh Shunshin only has a curve and a fork, which he rarely uses anyway. That control might be dangerous but, with you two, we can easily train to hit his pitches.” Chris explained before turning to the others, who were listening in on their conversation. “Eijun doesn’t have a curve but his number 3 can simulate the difference of velocity between Yoh’s curve and fastball and the number 11 can take the place of Yoh’s fork. With Kazuya’s lead, which is strangely similar to Yoh’s, and with Eijun’s pitching, we can train to be able to predict what kind of game-calling will be used against each of our batters.”
Everyone looked excited before they turned to watch the game again, although it was rather dull since Akikawa was mostly a one-man team and relied on their pitcher holding of their opponent’s batters so they could scrap a win by scoring only a few runs.
“Their batters are barely better than Maimon and Murata’s.” Tetsu commented after a while from the other side of Chris. “Yoh seems good at batting but alone he will have a hard time scoring even one run against us.”
“I don’t know about that…” Seidou’s captain retorted with a contemplative expression. “If Kataoka-kantoku decides to have Furuya pitching, we might have some trouble in the first inning.”
The first-year pitcher in question looked offended and opened his mouth to correct the older teen but before he could speak, he was interrupted by his rival.
“Yuu is right.” Eijun stated matter-of-factly. “Furuya’s control is still miles away from being good and he’s a slow starter… If Akikawa’s batters manage to not even swing their bats, the first ones will likely end up being walked, which will give Yoh Shunshin a scoring chance.”
Most of the first-string looked at their ace in horror, knowing that what he said was entirely truthful.
“On the other hand, it might teach him the importance of each pitch since he always ignores it when everyone tries to explain it to him.” Eijun huffed, glaring side-ways at his supposed rival, who was looking away and ignoring him which proved the golden-eyed teen’s point.
Chris and Tetsu looked at their little brother with amusement while Kazuya laughed hysterically at the bulls-eye statement and Furuya’s disgruntled expression as the first-year power-pitcher tried to ignore everyone.
Haruichi and Toujou tried their best to comfort the black-haired pitcher but they agreed with Eijun’s assessment so they weren’t very successful, although their friend seemed to appreciate their efforts.
Seidou’s first-string had gotten used to the gloomy first-year so they weren’t bothered when the teen brooded for the rest of the time they spent watching the game and just talked and laughed together with the third-years, especially, cherishing every single second they had left with their fellow batch-mates and underclassmen before they had to retire from the team at the end of the Summer.
Tesshin and Rei, that had been watching quietly as their students talked and interacted with each other, traded a soft smile before herding them back to the bus after the game ended, anxious to get back to Seidou so they could start practicing to go against Yoh Shunshin and hoping that Furuya could really learn the importance of each pitch in their next game.