8th ANNUAL PBL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES REVIEW
vs 
Los Angeles Idols (96-66) vs Louisville Racers (96-66)
Game Three: That the Idols had been through this before wasn't necessarily a comfort. It was hard enough coming back from being down 2-0 once. To do it consecutively will be even more daunting.
Ervin Santana (16-8, 3.80)takes the mount for Los Angeles, while Edinson Volquez (13-12, 4.65)starts for Louisville.
Jim Lefebvre picked up an RBI single to score Smokey Burgess in the top of the first to give Louisville a 1-0 lead and put the Idols on their collective heels quickly. But with runners on the corners, Santana got Rico Petrocelli to pop up and Buck Leonard to fly out to escape further damage.
The Idols tied it up in the bottom of the second, when a Hank Thompson groundout scored Oscar Charleston.
Thompson would strike again. After both pitchers exchanged zeroes until the bottom of the fifth, Thompson mauled a 2-2 fastball 440 feet over the centerfield fence for a 2-run shot and a 3-1 Los Angeles lead.
The Racers got leadoff man Gene Richards on to start the 6th. An errant pickoff throw moved Richards to second, and a groundout moved him to third. He then scored on a Joe Jackson groundout to make it 3-2. Lefebvre then followed with a solo shot to tie the game at 3.
The game was knotted in the top of the seventh when Leonard doubled to start the inning. Jerry Mumphrey grounded out to short, freezing Leonard. But a grounder to second went through the legs of Vern Stephens, and Leonard raced around to score, sucking the air out of a tense Los Angeles crowd, making it 4-3 Louisville.
With Volquez still in, the Idols got second and third with one out in the bottom half of the 7th. But Yogi Berra popped to short and Dave Winfield grounded to short to end the threat, and in the eyes of many Idols fans, their chances.
The heart of the L.A. order came up in the bottom of the 8th, and Volquez remained in. He needed six pitches to retire Dan Brouthers, Oscar Charleston and Luke Easter and some of the crowd headed for the exits.
Brian Fuents had gotten the final out of the 8th and threw a scoreless ninth, setting up a bottom of the ninth with Louisville closer Brad Lidge facing the bottom of the L.A. order with the chance to put the Racers up 3-0, one win away from the PBL Championship!
Jerry Turner led off with a single to left, and the tying run was aboard. Thompson, who had already driven in all three Idols runs, was called on to sacrifice anyway. But he took a strike, then fouled off an attempt, forcing him to swing away. The out was productive, a groundout to first that moved the tying run into scoring position.
And score he would, as Roy Sievers - a rookie with no homers and who hit .203 in 69 regular season at bats - drilled a 2-1 changeup from Lidge over the leftfield fence for a walkoff 2-run shot that the Idols - as they pounced on Sievers at the plate, jumping in euphoric synchronicity - had to hope would turn the series on its ear.
Los Angeles 5, Louisville 4: Louisville leads series 2-1