Fans of the Chattanooga Lookouts will have one more chance to watch their team play ball this year.
But after an incredibly successful regular season, the Lookouts have worked themselves down to one last shot to earn a share of the Southern League championship.
The Montgomery Biscuits won 2-0 Saturday night in front of 1,741 at AT&T Field, tying the best-of-five North Division Series 2-2 and setting the stage for a decisive matchup at 6:15 tonight at AT&T.
The Southern League announced this past Wednesday that the league championship series would not be played because of the threat of Hurricane Irma, and that the division series winners would be crowned co-champions. The South Division series finished Friday night in Florida when the Pensacola Blue Wahoos finished a sweep of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.
All that's left is to decide who Pensacola must split the title with, and the Biscuits and Lookouts have made their half of the playoffs a well-matched battle. The teams have alternated wins in four low-scoring games that have been decided by two or fewer runs in each case.
Baserunners were at a premium again Saturday night. The Lookouts had four hits to the Biscuits' three and drew six walks compared to none for their visitors, but Montgomery took advantage to stay alive and draw even.
The Biscuits made it 1-0 in the seventh when Grant Kay singled with one out, advanced to third thanks to a two-error play and scored on a fielder's choice. They doubled their advantage an inning later, when Joe McCarthy's two-out double was followed by another Lookouts fielding error that brought McCarthy home.
Chattanooga's T.J. White went 2-for-4 and Jonathan Rodriguez walked twice, but they couldn't solve the scoring puzzle against any of the six pitchers Montgomery put on the mound.
Logan Darnell got the win after working 4 2/3 innings in relief. He gave up two hits, walked four and struck out three. Ian Gibaut worked the ninth for the save, issuing a one-out walk to Brian Navarreto before getting a groundout to end the game.
Chattanooga's D.J. Baxendale entered after starter Adalberto Jemia allowed one hit and struck out five in five innings, and Baxendale took the loss after giving up both runs.