[3] During the same year's Summer Koshien Tournament, he was suddenly called to pitch in relief after the starter's shaky start in the 1st round against Urawa Gakuin High.

After pitching five innings and scores tied at 10-10, his future Tigers teammate Takahiro Kumagai notched a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 9th to secure the win.

He spent his freshman year pitching in relief to then-sophomore and ace pitcher Kento Kumabara, and helped his school win the autumn league championship with an ERA of 0.93.

In his final autumn league, he notched a flawless 5-0 record as a starter, with a 0.49 ERA in 36 innings and a 14.59 strikeout rate (60 KOs), and once again helped his team secure the championship.

[6] He was the 1st round pick (3rd alternative choice) of both the Hanshin Tigers and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the 2017 Nippon Professional Baseball draft, after they both lost the lottery for Kotaro Kiyomiya and Hisanori Yasuda.