However, a baseball team must always remember to seal the deal.

Big Spring proved to be an opportunistic team in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Steers put together a 4-run rally to upset the third-ranked Oklahoma Class 5A Chicks, 5-4.

None of the Steers final inning runs were earned due to a plethora of command problems by Chickasha pitchers Chance Sneed and Billy Hartas, who combined to record only one out in the final inning, but threw three wild pitches, allowed a run to score on a balk, surrendered two hits and gave up four walks.

The Chicks’ problems on the mound allowed the Steers to be very aggressive on the base paths. Rance Terry led off the seventh with a walk and moved over to third courtesy of a Martin Yanez double to the left field fence. The first of two Sneed wild pitches got by Chickasha catcher Blake Taylor, allowing Terry to score and bring the Steers within 2, 4-2.

Kaegan Hunt drew the second walk of the inning and immediately stole second base. Nathan Doporto then knocked in Yanez with a single back up the middle of the infield, pulling Big Spring within 1, 4-3.

With runners on first and third, Hartas — who replaced Sneed after two batters — attempted to pick off Doporto at first, but balked in the process, tying the game at 4 as Yanez crossed the plate.

With one out in the inning and Doporto on second, Matt Ritchey was intentionally walked to set up a potential double play. However, a Hartas wild pitch moved Doporto to third and Ritchey to second, forcing another intentional walk of Lance Gross to load the bases.

With John Benavides at the plate for Big Spring, another Hartas pitch got by Taylor, who could never find a grip on the ball and Doporto slid safely into home for the 5-4 win.

“Beating the No. 3 team in Oklahoma’s Class 5A is a testament to how hard this team is working and how much they’ve bought into the system,” Steers Head Coach Burt Otto said. “Chickasha gets to play baseball year round. Their coach stays with them in the summer and fall. They’ve got a lot of tradition.”

Gross picked up the win for the Steers, pitching all seven innings and allowing four runs — all earned — on eight hits and five walks. He gave up three runs in the first inning, but allowed just one over the final six.

It was a very similar outing to his last one against Anthony on the first day of the West Texas Classic in Midland last week. Against Anthony, Gross gave up three runs in the first inning, but shut out his opponent for the rest of the game.

“Some pitchers are like that where the first inning gives them problems,” Otto said. “I don’t know what it is, but Lance held on and pitched into a pretty tight strike zone. He made the pitches when he needed to.”

Gross nearly cut Chickasha’s hit production in half from the previous day, when the Chicks collected 14 hits and 11 runs. Gross allowed eight hits and four runs.

“I guess it just takes me getting loose in the early innings and relying on our outfield and infield to back me up,” Gross said about his early inning struggles. “I wanted to keep the ball as low as I could because of the wind. I just tried to throw the ball as hard as I could and get outs.”

Doporto recorded Big Spring’s only RBI of the game, when he knocked in Yanez in the seventh inning. Benavides was 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored and Jeremy Solis also went 2-for-3.

Hartas led Chickasha at the plate, knocking in three of the Chicks’ four runs and 3-for-4 hitting. He also end up with the loss.

Big Spring (12-10) starts district play Tuesday, hosting Plainview’s Bulldogs at 4:30 p.m. Ritchey is scheduled to get the start. Otto is optimistic about the Steers’ chances to make their presence felt during the District 4-4A season.

“We just want to go out and compete in district,” Otto said. “It’s been a while since Big Spring has won some district games and we just want to go out and keep playing that we have over the past couple weeks. It’s a strong district. Everybody’s got good pitching and hitting. We need to get out there and show we can play right with them.”

Gross also notes how much better the team is as compared to last year’s varsity squad. He gives a lot of credit to Otto and the coaching staff.

“We’re better coached this year,” Gross said. “Coach Otto supports us and doesn’t run us down. We didn’t have that last year. We play better and get along better as a team because we’re winning some this year. Last year, we weren’t even close most of the time.”