September 10th, 1872
Game 3 was set to take place back in Montesutti, in front of a crowd of just 377 as it was a week day.
Lano
1. CF Ryan Hensley
2. RF Justin Mowry
3. 1B Matt Howell
4. C Allen Materne
5. SS Frank Taylor
6. LF Brad Toole
7. 3B Eric Brickey
8. 2B Matt Petri
9. P Steve Patrick
Montesutti
1. RF Luke Storey
2. 3B Sam Hollowell
3. CF Bobby Hamilton
4. 1B Ron Clifton
5. LF Tim Vernon
6. C John Mull
7. 2B Jessie Rossi
8. SS Travis Watts
9. P Casey Levin
Nothing worth reporting happened in the 1st inning but Materne and Taylor led off the 2nd with back-to-back singles, and Materne moved to 3rd and Taylor back to the dugout when Toole grounded into a fielder's choice. Toole then took off for 2nd base and Mull committed his 6th error of the series, throwing the ball into the outfield and allowing Materne to score and Toole to advance to 3rd base. Brickey knocked Toole in with a double and then stole 3rd base. He scored on Mull's 3rd passed ball of the series to make it 3-0, and the half inning ended shortly after.
Patrick handled Montesutti quite easily in the first 2 innings and most of the 3rd inning until Storey hit a triple with 2 outs and then Hollowell hit a double to make it 3-1. Bobby Hamilton hit a dribbler back to Patrick but beat out the throw while Hollowell moved to 3rd. Taylor botched a grounder hit to him by Clifton to make it 3-2. Vernon flew out to right, making him 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in this series and ending the inning.
Petri led off the top of the 5th by making it to 2nd on Hollowell's throwing error and advancing to 3rd on Patrick's sacrifice bunt. Hensley hit a fly ball to right field and Petri thought about but decided against testing Storey's arm, so he was instead driven in by Mowry's 2-out single. Howell grounded into out number 3, the score now 4-2.
Storey started the bottom half of the 5th with a single and a stolen base to put him in scoring position where he stayed when Hollowell grounded out but then took of for 3rd and made it there safely on the 1st pitch of Hamilton's at bat. Hamilton popped it up to the 2nd baseman for the 2nd out, and Clifton flew out to left for the 3rd, so the score stayed at 4-2 with Lano winning.
After a scoreless top of the 6th Montesutti started the bottom of it with singles from Vernon and Mull to give them runners on 1st and 2nd base. Rossi poked one through the middle for a single and Vernon scored from 2nd despite a throw home from Hensley, which allowed Mull and Rossi to move to 3rd and 2nd bases respectively. Watts was walked intentionally to bring Levin to the plate and he subsequently drove in 2 more with a single and gave Montesutti the 5-4 lead. Storey bunted the runners from 1st and 2nd to 2nd and 3rd and then Hollowell hit a single, and Watts scored easily from 3rd but Levin tried to come home as well and was thrown out by Mowry for the 2nd out of the inning. The inning ended with a score of 6-4 after Hamilton flew out to center field.
Now the Montesutti fans began to get excited as they'd never seen their ballclub win live and in person before and as they were winning now, and Mayor Jimerson and all the Montesutti ballplayers began to get excited too on account of how they got treated by their friends and neighbors when they hadn't seen them win but had just heard about it and how they figured they might get treated if their friends and neighbors did actually see them win live and in person.
So Levin did some of his best work over the next two innings and didn't allow a hit or a run, and neither did Patrick but no one at the ballpark aside from Patrick and his teammates and his mayor were paying much attention to Patrick's performance and were instead thoroughly focused on the scoreboard and Levin's maintenance of that 2-run lead.
And he entered the top of the 9th with that lead still intact and with Taylor up to bat 1st. Now Taylor was already 2-for-3 on the day so he was seeing the ball well and hitting it well too, and he hit the 2nd pitch of the at bat well to left field and was able to make it all the way to 2nd base. Brad Toole came up next and with the count full he too hit the ball to left field, but this time hit it in a way so that Mike Baker could catch it before it hit the ground and so made the 1st out of the inning. Brickey hit the ball on a line straight up the middle in the next at bat, and it looked like it'd make it through but Travis Watts made an excellent diving catch for the 2nd out. Matt Petri became Lano's last hope, and it looked like it was all over when he popped it up to 2nd, but Petri dropped the easy catch and Petri arrived safely at first while Taylor booked it to 3rd. Simonian pinch hit for Patrick and hit it hard to the hot corner, but Hollowell was able to handle it for the 3rd out, giving Montesutti its first home win.
Now Lano became all too aware that they hadn't yet won a game at home and were embarrassed and ashamed and thoroughly angered by the fact that Montesutti did it before they did, so they became quite determined to win this next game and to win all the others after that regardless of what town they were played in, but especially to win the next game as it was being played in Lano.
