"Yay, big brother, both our ERAs are zero!" Eijun happily patted the shoulder of the person beside him during the stats review meeting that night.
Kōshū shook off that hand. In fact, aside from Eijun, everyone else frowned more deeply the longer they looked at the numbers.
So far, Seido had played five games at Koshien, scoring a total of 39 runs and allowing 8. They averaged 7.8 runs scored and 1.6 runs allowed per game.
Counting earned runs, Tanba had pitched 13.3 innings and allowed 3 runs for a 2.03 ERA. Kōshū had pitched 12 innings and allowed no runs. Kawakami had pitched 9.3 innings and allowed 3 runs for a 2.9 ERA. Furuya had pitched 8.3 innings and allowed 1 run for a 1.08 ERA. Eijun had pitched 2 innings and allowed no runs. Seido's pitcher lineup had a combined ERA of 1.6, placing it among the best of all teams at Koshien.
As their opponents grew stronger, Tanba's innings gradually dropped from five in the first game to two against Takeyama in the semifinals. Kōshū, meanwhile, had not appeared in the first two games, then gradually increased from three innings in the third game to five against Takeyama.
That increase represented the coaching staff's growing recognition of his ability. Naturally, he had lived up to those expectations, pitching more than ten innings just like third-year Tanba while maintaining an ERA of zero.
Comparing batting average allowed and extra-base hit rate allowed, Kōshū was likewise Seido's best performer. By the later stages, he had effectively become the real ace.
Of course, that was also because Tanba had handled more innings early on, exposing him sooner to study and targeted preparation by stronger teams. In short, some opponents had interpreted Seido's approach as a "two-ace strategy"—one ace for the