And that's what happened to Pioneer last week when the Mustangs let Piedmont Hills steal a 6-5, eight-inning win in a Blossom Valley Athletic League Santa Teresa Division contest.

After trailing the entire game, the Mustangs found the right combination in the top of the seventh when they needed two runs to stay alive.

Andrew Schulz got things started with a lead-off walk and Brent Osborn stepped in with one out and promptly lined a single past the third baseman, putting runners on first and second. Andy Evert followed with a single to left, driving in a run and moving the tying run to second. The Pioneer bats stayed hot as Mike Kaufmann stroked a solid single, driving in a run to make it 3-3.

The momentum had definitely swung in favor of the Mustangs as they picked up right where they left off when the eighth inning began. Kevin Ota legged out an infield hit but was forced at second on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Danny Ventura. After Schulz was hit by a pitch, Pioneer successfully executed a double steal to put two in scoring position as Steve Mattos stood at the plate. Mattos did not disappoint when on the next pitch he lined a single sharply over the shortstop's head to drive in two and put Pioneer on top 5-3.

The Pirates were able to put out the fire and came to bat with their backs against the wall.

That's when the wheels came off for the Mustangs. The combination of two errors, a couple of singles and an intentional walk allowed the Pirates to tie it up 5-5 and still have the bases loaded. One wild pitch later the winning run slid home and Piedmont Hills walked off the field with the win.

"We were not making adjustments at the plate and not being patient enough," Pioneer coach Jake Hernandez said. "We were not doing the little things like putting the ball in play with runners on second and third and only one out."

One bright spot for Pioneer was the clutch hitting of Osborn coming off the bench. He was responsible for driving in the Mustangs' first run with a two-out pinch hit double in the fifth inning.

It was not a good week for the Mustangs, who had suffered their first division loss when Silver Creek handed them a 10-2 defeat.

The two teams were scoreless through three innings until Silver Creek put two runs on the board in the fourth. Pioneer answered with one in the fourth and one in the fifth to tie it up.

In the fourth Ota led off with a single and quickly stole second. Robby Haakma took advantage of the scoring opportunity by slapping a single and driving home Ota.

In the fifth, the Mustangs manufactured a run when Kaufmann led off with a walk and then proceeded to steal both second and third. Mike O'Grady came through with a single to drive in Kaufmann and tie the score at 2-2.

Silver Creek picked up eight runs in the last two innings to pull out the win.