Masahiro Tanaka was the visiting pitcher at Es Con Field Hokkaido on opening night, but part of him felt at home.
Maybe it was because before he rocketed to fame with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and pitched for the New York Yankees, Tanaka was a high school star at Komazawa University Tomakomai High School in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, where he won the 2005 Summer Koshien title and led the school to the final in 2006.
The fans in the region have not forgotten Tanaka, who went toe-to-toe with Waseda Jitsugyo pitcher Yuki Saito in the 2006 Koshien final in one of the most famous high school games in Japanese baseball history. Before his start against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on Thursday, some Fighters fans in the stands cheered for him.