The big-school stars get the attention. But some of the best stories at Koshien 2026 came from schools the English-speaking world never heard about — including two players trying to do the exact thing that made Shohei Ohtani famous. Here are three worth knowing.

1 & 2. Nichinan Gakuen’s “Double Two-Way” — Kosei Tanaka & Ginjiro Taniguchi

Everyone knows Japan produced Ohtani, the two-way unicorn who pitches and hits. What most foreign fans don’t know is that two-way players are a whole tradition in Japanese high school baseball — and in 2026, Nichinan Gakuen of Miyazaki brought two of them. The official broadcast literally billed the pair as the “W二刀流” — the “double two-way.”

Kosei Tanaka (3rd year) is the headliner: the team’s ace, throwing up to 144 km/h (about 89 mph), and its No. 3 hitter, with 13 career home runs. In his prefecture’s qualifying tournament he hit an absurd .526 — 10 hits in 19 at-bats. Here’s the Ohtani twist, though: after Nichinan’s run ended, Tanaka announced he intends to turn pro as a position player, not a pitcher. Where Ohtani refused to choose, Tanaka chose the bat.

Ginjiro Taniguchi is the other half — and remarkably, only a 2nd year. A left-hander, he works as a relief pitcher and bats in the cleanup spot. As a pitcher against powerhouse Meitoku Gijuku he threw 7 innings without allowing a run, striking out six. He has another full year of Koshien ahead of him.

Nichinan won a dramatic first-round game over Meitoku before running into Yokohama — one of the tournament favorites — in the second round. The official broadcast’s clip of the duo is billed, fittingly, “日南学園が誇るＷ二刀流” (Nichinan’s proud double two-way): you can watch it on the official Virtual Koshien player.

(A note on accuracy: both players are genuinely two-way, but only Tanaka carried a ~.500 average, and that was in the prefectural qualifier — not at Koshien. We checked.)

3. Ariake’s Seiki Nagata — a hero with two outs in the 9th

If you want the single most dramatic individual moment from a “small” school in 2026, it belongs to Seiki Nagata, the leadoff man and second baseman for Ariake (Kumamoto).

In the first round against Ritsumeikan Uji, Ariake was down to its final outs and staring at elimination. Then, with two outs in the top of the 9th and the bases loaded, Nagata laced a bases-clearing double to put his team ahead — capping a 5-RBI day and rescuing his school’s tournament with one swing. Watch it:

Nagata's bases-clearing go-ahead double with two outs in the 9th. Video: バーチャル高校野球公式チャンネル (official) via YouTube.

Nagata is also a burner — he stole six bases in the Kumamoto qualifier. Ariake rode that first-round escape into a second-round win over Nagasaki Nichidai. It’s the exact kind of run that makes Koshien what it is: a school most fans couldn’t place on a map, one clutch swing away from going home, suddenly writing history.

Why we bother with these names

Anyone can cover the favorites. The whole point of Koshien — nearly 4,000 schools chasing one dream — is that the best stories often come from the schools nobody was watching. These three are exactly that.

More: 5 players MLB fans should know · the biggest upsets of 2026 · what is Koshien, explained.