With continuous media coverage, discussions about this year's Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament are steadily climbing among various groups; the relevant personnel from the Daily News and Takano Ren are practically beaming with joy.

Originally, due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, this year's tournament inevitably saw a significant drop in viewership and attention, and discussions among the general public were much less than in previous years;

But as Lin Guanglai continued to deliver spectacular performances, discussions about this Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament were rapidly increasing across both traditional and new media.

On forums related to high school baseball, Lin Guanglai has already been dubbed by many baseball fans as the "best active high school player": his skills in pitching and batting are exceptionally strong, he excels in all aspects of running, offense, and defense, has an outstanding physique and appearance, and exhibits a leadership presence on the field—no baseball enthusiast could possibly dislike such a player.

This unexpected emergence of a genius is also seen by many as a sign of "good fortune"—under the constant embellishment of the media, Lin Guanglai's exceptional performance is also said to be an existence that could bring strength to those in disaster-stricken areas.

On March 31, the quarterfinals of the 83rd Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament proceeded as scheduled.

On today's match day, two of the four semifinal teams of this year's tournament were already decided:

The Kyushu representative Kyushu International University Daifu and the Hokkaido representative Hokkai High School battled fiercely for 9 innings; with the point gap narrowed to just 1 point in the bottom half of the 9th inning, they tenaciously held onto their slight advantage and defeated their opponent 5:4, becoming the first team to enter this year's tournament semifinals;

The top favorite Nihon University Third showcased the leisure of a Shengong champion and the tournament's top-seeded team:

In their match against the host team Kakogawa Kita, the supporters of Kakogawa Kita created a massive momentum in the stands, trying to influence the mindset of the Nihon University Third players through this method;

But in the face of the vast strength gap, no amount of off-field tactics could have any effect: Nihon University Third's star pitcher Yoshinaga Kentarou remained steady, completely shutting down Kakogawa Kita's offense with his personal skill—he pitched 7 innings in the whole game, throwing only 75 pitches, striking out 3 times, and allowing only 4 hits;

Meanwhile, Nihon University Third's invincible lineup once again showed all home fans and spectators what true dominance is: they attacked for a total of eight innings in the entire game, hitting at least one hit in each inning;

They effortlessly plundered from the Kakogawa Kita pitchers, appearing completely defenseless from an outsider's perspective as they were repeatedly pummeled.

In the whole game, Nihon University Third scored a total of 13 points, only showing a slight lapse in concentration in the final half-inning, allowing their opponent to score 2 points.

But the massive 13 to 2 point gap still shocked all the spectators and the opponent who watched the game—for Waseda Jitsugyo, it was particularly so.

Because according to the current zoning rules, if Waseda Jitsugyo can defeat Wisdom Wakayama High School in today's match, their opponent in the semifinals would be this old rival from the Tokyo Region.

The next morning, the match between Waseda Jitsugyo and Wisdom Wakayama will commence promptly at 11 o'clock.

In the stands of the Hanshin Koshien Stadium, the crowd was noticeably larger than in previous days: on one hand, the matches become more intense with increasingly strong confrontations; on the other hand, today's match features the popular star Lin Guanglai.

Due to these factors, it was visually apparent that more than 35,000 spectators were present at today's Koshien Stadium—a number that could almost rival the finals from previous tournaments.

In the stands, the present audience was chatting incessantly, discussing their predictions for the match:

"Wisdom is also a strong team, and their main lineup should basically consist of players who participated in last year's Summer甲. With such long cooperation, it should be enough of a challenge for Waseda."

"Even Luzheng Society's strong lineup failed, and although Wisdom's lineup is strong, it's still far inferior—completely not a match for Lin Guanglai, isn't it?"

"In the match the day before yesterday, Lin Guanglai's performance was so explosive—I specifically came over from Osaka today just to watch this game to see if I can once again witness history, haha."

"Come on, having scored 22 strikeouts in a single game, how else could history be made? You can't seriously think this kind of thing is just that simple to get in bulk, right?"

"Actually, I'm not too interested in today's match—if Waseda advances, their next showdown with Nihon University Third must be very interesting."

The audience engaged in lively discussions, expressing their views on this match or the entire Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament—individual opinions may vary, but the desire to witness a powerful confrontation is the same for everyone.

As the match was about to commence, the outfield scoreboard of Koshien Stadium displayed the starting lineups of both sides—neither Wisdom Wakayama nor Waseda Industries made any significant changes; after all, by this point, anyone would be hesitant to make random player rotations.

As the sound of the air-raid alarm rang once more, the match between Waseda Jitsugyo and Wisdom Wakayama officially began.

Third base side, Waseda Jitsugyo, bats first.

First base side, Wisdom Wakayama, bats second.

For those who came to the scene, hoping to witness a historic game, they were probably bound for disappointment—to be honest, Lin Guanglai's performance in this match was relatively average.

Spectators who often watch sports events should know that after a game worthy of being recorded in history, as the excitement fades, players' states usually fluctuate for a period, as both their body and mind need some time to recharge—Lin Guanglai was no exception.

In this match, although Lin Guanglai started as before, he was substituted by Uchida Saint after only pitching for 4 and a half innings and went to the right field position for fielding.

Compared to the previous game against Luzheng Society, this clash with Wisdom Wakayama seemed more like a victory belonging to all the players of Waseda Jitsugyo:

In the top of the fourth inning, after Lin Guanglai hit a single as the first batter, the following lower lineup utilized bunts and hits to continue the momentum, successfully bringing Lin Guanglai back to home plate, taking the lead with the first point to break the stalemate;

In the upper half of the fifth inning, the entire lineup of Waseda Jitsugyo exploded, showing incredible burst power: starting with the first batter, Waseda Jitsugyo hit consecutively in five at-bats and caused two intentional walks with precise pitch selection, instantly widening the point gap considerably.

In just this one half-inning, Waseda Jitsugyo scored 7 points through a wave-like fierce offensive, completely shattering Wisdom Wakayama's hopes of advancing.

After a tiring two and a half hours of fierce battle, Waseda Industries smoothly defeated Wisdom Wakayama with a final score of 10:3, successfully advancing.

In this match, Lin Guanglai pitched for 4 innings, struck out 5 times, allowed 2 hits, and gave up no runs; offensively, he hit 2 for 5—these stats were somewhat average for him.

Of course, only within the team of Waseda Jitsugyo was it known that under the arrangement of Coach Izumi Minoru, this match for Lin Guanglai was purely for conserving energy and accumulating form.

Their goal had long been set on the finals of the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament and that old rival from the Tokyo Region—

Nihon University Third.

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