The sky was cold and foggy at Skyline College, a typical San Bruno day. In the background, the thump of baseball bats connecting with balls could be heard. So what?

Well, the chants and cheering were in Japanese, and the uniforms read Rikkyo.

What made Feb 14 and 15 unusual was who was responsible for the sounds, as the baseball team from Rikkyo University in Tokyo Japan practiced, met, and played an exhibition game against the USF Dons.

Rikkyo also played Stanford, USC, UCLA, and Cal State Northridge on their California tour said Skyline coach Dino Nomicos, while casually watching Rikkyo practice.

Using wooden bats, as opposed to the metal bats American college baseball players use, Rikkyo battled Stanford and USF losing 5-1 and 3-2 respectively, got crushed by Cal State Northridge 14-2, and beat USC 4-3, and UCLA 10-7.

“Neither [team] wanted to screw up [their] rhythm” says Kaz Sakamoto, Rikkyo alumni and team translator, in regards to why the team used wooden bats while their opponents used aluminum.

Rikkyo plays in the prestigious Tokyo Big 6 league, which is the most prominent collegiate league in Japan.

The team goes on a world tour roughly every three years as each player has to save up enough money for the trip.

“Baseball is like Japan’s national sport pretty much, I mean they have like a hundred guys playing that is a lot” says coach Nomicos.

The average major league team has a 25 man roster, and in comparison, Skyline has only 31 players on its roster.

The love for the game is evident in the way Rikkyo approaches baseball, as they are a disciplined and fundamentally sound team.

“That is Japanese baseball,” Sakamoto says.

Although the competition is important, winning or losing is not the only reason Rikkyo travels all this way to play a game. They play for a more fundamental reason.

“Just for the experience in different baseball, and you know to give [the players] a different perspective” Sakamoto states after the Rikkyo players and coaches finished taking pictures with the USF players. Opponents thanking each other with smiles and handshakes