Well, wow. I truly loved this episode. It really had everything: the exciting factor, the usual great character interaction, and even the best humor so far.
Momoe sure enjoyed the game a lot... maybe more than we did? You just have to see her random faces when Sakaeguchi gets to bat
It was a bit unexpected to see Tajima actually go get Mihashi to get back on the bench. Not that it was a bad thing, but you really get used to seeing Mihashi and Abe always together
Speaking of Tajima, he was his usual fun self. I kept telling myself that he wasn't going to hit it, because he's already demonstrated lots of skills, but I guess he can just get even better. Hey, Nishiura got their first victory, I'm not complaining!
The scene after the match with the whole Mihoshi team apologizing to Mihashi and asking him to come back also seemed very well handled to me. We even got a serious BGM and all. It got lighter at the end though, with Hatake still claiming that Kanou is the best pitcher. Even though they've lost, as Kanou says. ^^
You kind of end up feeling sorry for Kanou - I can't really say if he really liked Mihashi, but he does seem to feel lonely after seeing how close he's already become with the rest of the Mihoshi players. I think that part is definitely going into the BL moments listing in Seleria's upcoming entry.
Oh, and... do not ever get Kanou annoyed. Or else...
About the preview: I was thinking how I would love to see what kind of character Haruna is like after rewatching the subbed version of episode 2 - and here he comes in the next episode. Awesome. Here's hoping we get to learn lots about Abe's past!