Game 52 vs. Hawks: Aoyagi Beats Reigning Champs

The forecast heading into today called for rain all day, and it looked like Koyo Aoyagi was going to fall victim to his 12th career rain-out, including four straight at Koshien Stadium this year alone! But somehow, the rains stopped mid-afternoon and did not come back hard enough to allow us to see Aoyagi pitch a gem: eight innings of six-hit, one-run ball. He was aided by a flurry of runs in the first two innings (Fumiya Hojoh RBI double, Yusuke Ohyama RBI single, Koji Chikamoto 2-RBI single). For once against the PL, the team coasted to victory, and was just a solo homer from its first shutout in ages. It does not matter… we beat the Hawks!