The Chattanooga Lookouts have played 145 games since opening their 2015 Southern League season April 9 in Montgomery.
They will play one more.
Chattanooga forced game five of the league championship series Sunday afternoon with a 4-2 comeback win over the Biloxi Shuckers before a season-low crowd of 758 at AT&T Field. The deciding contest will take place at 7:15 tonight at AT&T.
"We'll see how it goes," Lookouts manager Doug Mientkiewicz said. "To win two games against a team that good is tough. Our kids are facing four quality big-league arms, but we always seem to find a way at the end of a game.
"It isn't pretty all the time, but when you keep grinding, good things happen."
One more triumph by the Lookouts would result in their first Southern League title since 1988, when they were in their first season as Class AA affiliates of the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds and Lookouts partnered for 21 seasons until Chattanooga began a six-year pairing with the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2008 season.
Chattanooga is in its first season as an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.
"We've got a lot of momentum coming off this win today, and we're excited about tomorrow," Lookouts second baseman Levi Michael said. "It all comes down to this."
Biloxi was in position to win the series in four games Sunday, taking a 2-0 lead on an Orlando Arcia RBI single to center field in the third inning and a Brett Phillips home run to right-center in the fourth. Shuckers starting pitcher Josh Hader struck out 10 batters in five scoreless innings but was pulled after allowing two of the first three Lookouts to reach in the sixth.
Jacob Barnes replaced Hader and promptly gave up a walk to Adam Walker that loaded the bases and a single to left by Michael that tied the game. A walk to Heiker Meneses loaded the bases again, and then a Stuart Turner sacrifice to center gave the Lookouts a 3-2 lead.
Shannon Wilkerson capped the scoring on a single to left that scored Michael.
"All day long, we were trying to get in a positive count," Michael said. "I got a couple of pitches over the plate and didn't try and do too much with them. We showed again today that we finish strong. We never quit. We never give up."
The Shuckers attempted a rally in the eighth inning, loading the bases with two outs against Nick Burdi, who had worked a smooth seventh. Mientkiewicz replaced Burdi with J.T. Chargois, who struck out Biloxi pinch-hitter Nick Ramirez.
Chargois also worked the ninth, allowing a walk and a single, before picking up the save.
"If he's going to pitch in the big leagues, that's what he's going to need to do," Lookouts pitching coach Stu Cliburn said. "He came in and did the job."
Tonight will mark Chattanooga's first appearance in a fifth game of the championship series since 1995. Biloxi is scheduled to start Jorge Ortega, while the Lookouts could tab D.J. Baxendale, who started last Wednesday's series opener.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.
Lookouts pitcher David Hurlbut delivers a pitch as the Chattanooga Lookouts host the Biloxi Shuckers in the Southern League championship series on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Hurlbut was the winning pitcher as the Lookouts won 4-2 to force a deciding game in the series Monday in Chattanooga.