November 6, 1999 Undertakers Finally Get Revenge LITCHFIELD, CT - The Los Altos Undertakers finally awoke from their slumber by scoring three runs in the ninth inning today to take Game Three of this Division Series by a score of 5-2. Arthur Rhodes proved to be a costly addition to the Litchfield roster in more ways than one as he surrendered three runs on three hits and two walks in one inning of work, delaying his team's advancement into the championship series for at least another day. Litchfield jumped out on top in the first inning when Barry Bonds tripled home Edgar Martinez with two outs. Los Altos tied it in the fourth on a sac fly by Albert Belle. Litchfield scored again in the sixth on a leadoff homer by Brady Anderson and Los Altos tied it once again in the seventh on another sac fly. That made it a 2-2 game going into the ninth with Los Altos one run away from being swept out of the playoffs. Instead, the Undertakers offense had other plans for today. In the eighth, Los Altos threatened when Mo Vaughn led off the inning with a base hit against Eric Plunk. A sacrifice bunt by Rich Aurilia moved Vaughn into scoring position. Three batters later, with Rhodes on the mound in place of Plunk, pinch-hitter Rich Amaral walked to load the bases with the top of the order coming up. But Rhodes beared down and struck out Darryl Hamilton to end the inning. In the bottom half of the inning, Litchfield mounted their own threat. After back-to-back strikeouts, John Rocker walked two batters and hit another to load the bases. But with the team's only pinch-hitter, Damian Jackson, sitting on the bench, Litchfield manager Phil Geisel elected to stick with J.T. Snow against Rocker. Snow struck out, ending the inning. Bill Mueller led off the top of the ninth for Los Altos with a double. Larry Walker followed with a walk. Rhodes then miraculously struck out Albert Belle for out number one. That brought Vaughn to the plate against the tough lefty pitcher, and this time Vaughn won the battle. He ripped a single to center, scoring Mueller from second and leaving runners on second and third on the throw home. The next batter, Rich Aurilia, also singled, driving home two more runs. Litchfield eventually got out of the inning thanks to CBL legend Dennis Eckersley, who enticed Tony Eusebio into flying out to center for the final out. In the bottom of the ninth, Undertakers closer Trevor Hoffman got the call. Hoffman, who suffered a tragic and unlikely defeat in Game One of this series, put a scare into his team once again when he led off the inning by serving up a double to the lowly Chris Hoiles. But with only Jackson available to pinch hit on the bench, Hoffman easily disposed of the bottom three batters in the Litchfield lineup to seal the victory and force another game in this series.