The USA Collegiate National Team fell to Japan 6-1 on July 8 at Es Con Field in Hokkaido, Japan in the opening game of a five game series between the two teams.
Coming off of a 9-3 victory against the Appalachian League Select Team in Kannapolis, N.C. on July 4, the United States was looking to bring some momentum into their trip to Japan. Japan is currently ranked as the top national baseball team in the world, while the United States national team is ranked fifth.
UC Irvine’s sophomore pitcher Ricky Ojeda last played on July 3 in a Stars-Stripes game during the Collegiate National Team Training Camp in a game at Segra Stadium in Fayetteville, NC. Ojeda pitched two innings in which he allowed only one hit with four strikeouts.
That outing was an improvement from his June 30 appearance at the National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., where Ojeda pitched an inning, allowing both a hit and a run while being attributed with the loss, despite having two strikeouts.
In UCI’s NCAA tournament run, Ojeda was named part of the All-Tournament Team for the Los Angeles regional. His last outing of the year for UCI was against Arizona State University on June 1 in a game to go to the Los Angeles Regional final —where Ojeda threw an inning-and-a-third, allowing a hit and walking two.
In the bottom of the third inning, Japan’s second baseman Masahiro Tateishi hit a ground ball which was poorly fielded by the United States and allowed Japan to go ahead 1-0. In the next at bat, a wild pitch was thrown to allow Japan to lead 2-0. By the end of the at-bat, designated hitter Taiga Kojima had singled and put Japan up 3-0.
Japan continued their damage in the bottom of the fifth inning, as first baseman Koichiro Oda hit a homerun to center field to put Japan ahead 4-0. Later in the inning, left fielder Ren Hirakawa singled to give Japan a 5-0 lead.
USA showed some life in the top of the sixth inning, as University of Virginia transfer sophomore designated hitter AJ Gracia grounded out to cut the lead of Japan to 5-1.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Kojima singled to put Japan up by five, 6-1.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Ojeda entered the game. He struck out right fielder Shun Akiyama, the first batter he faced, before walking Hirakawa. Ojeda got right fielder Ruan Otsuka to hit a ball to the outfield which was caught. Ojeda ended his outing with a strikeout of third baseman Ayuto Matsushita.
The United States was unable to score for the remainder of the game, as Japan took the win 6-1.
The second and final game of the international series in Hokkaido took place on July 9 at 2 a.m. as Japan defeated the United States 8-1. Both teams will now travel to Hard Off Eco in Niigata, Japan for a 1 a.m. matchup on July 11.
Jack Fedor is the 2025-2026 Sports Editor. He can be reached at jfedor@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores, Annabelle Aguirre