By Vincent Liu

It was a major reversal of fortune in just one inning for the Los Altos and Mountain View baseball teams.

Just six outs away from a crushing defeat, the Eagles’ season-long stranglehold on first place appeared to be over. Just six outs away from their biggest victory of the season, the Spartans’ season-long pursuit of their crosstown rival and first place appeared to be coming to a successful end.

Then in one stunning inning, Los Altos exploded for three homers and nine runs to shock Mountain View 11-5 last Thursday at home. The come-from-behind win secured the SCVAL El Camino Division title and an automatic Central Coast Section playoff berth for the Eagles. Los Altos also gained the tie-breaker advantage over Mountain View, which slipped two games behind with two games to play.

For the Eagles, it was the most mind-boggling hitting outburst of the season, sending 12 men to the plate and teeing off on arguably the most overpowering pitcher in the league.

For the Spartans, it was “Nightmare on Almond Street,” as ace Erik Davis was shelled for eight runs in just two-thirds of an inning.

Things looked pretty bleak for the Eagles entering the bottom of the sixth, as the Spartans had just seized a 3-2 lead with an unearned run at the top of the inning. Waiting for them on the mound was a well-rested Davis, ranked 100th among the top 250 prospects of the 2004 high school class in the nation by a scouting service.

Mountain View’s lead lasted just two pitches, as Los Altos lefthander Donnie Ecker lofted a wind-aided, opposite-field home run to tie the game. After Brian Johnson walked, Troy Haury slammed a Davis fastball for a two-run homer and the lead. Eagles coach Sandy Wihtol, directing traffic at third base, broad jumped a good six feet as the ball flew far over the left field fence, wind or no wind. His dancing act was just beginning.

After Derek Fletcher reached first on a passed ball and Andrew Barreto was hit by a pitch, Dan Tugaw drove in Fletcher with a base hit for the fourth run of the inning. An error and two batters later, Ecker singled in two more runs with his second hit of the inning. Davis at this point was relieved by Will Evenson, whose first pitch to Johnson was blasted over left field for a three-run homer to break the game open.

Wihtol called it one of the most remarkable innings ever for Los Altos.

“After we got behind on that unearned run, I wasn’t concerned because I could see the determination on my players’ faces,” he said. “In a big game like this, the team that scores first and fast would sometimes get flat later. I just told the team to relax, stay aggressive and wait for the hits, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect us to hit Davis like that.”

While Ecker, Haury and Johnson received game balls for their big flies, the most crucial hit for the Eagles might have been the clutch two-out double by Mike Peterson an inning earlier.

With runners on first and second and two out in the bottom of the fifth, Peterson stepped to the plate facing Mountain View’s southpaw starter Matt Means who had given up just one hit until then. The left-hand hitting Peterson on a 1-1 count roped a line drive to the left center fence to drive in both runners to tie the game.

“It was lefty against lefty and that double by Peterson is really big,” Wihtol said. “That got us relaxed and the team going.”

Wihtol called Peterson a quiet leader who gets a lot of respect from his older teammates despite being a freshman.

Mountain View got off to a fast start when Todd Frassetti hit a two-run homer in the top of the first inning. For a while, it appeared those two runs would be enough for Means who had a no-hitter through four innings. Then an error and a hit put two runners on base in the bottom of the fifth to set up Peterson’s heroics. Means was relieved by Davis despite giving up only two hits and no earned run through 4 2/3 innings.

“My left calf was cramping up a little, but I could have continued,” said Means who had thrown only 69 pitches when he was taken out. “I was a little disappointed as I wouldn’t mind going longer, but I was on a short leash.” The game plan by the Spartans coaching staff was to put Davis into the game at the slightest hint of trouble to give Los Altos “a different look.”

Apparently, the Eagles liked what they saw.

Spartans bounce back

Forty-two hours after getting lit up by Los Altos, Davis took out his frustrations on the Homestead baseball team.

The fireballing righthander struck out the first five batters he faced, pitching host Mountain View to a 5-3 victory Saturday.

The win became significant when Saratoga later lost to Santa Clara to fall to third place and a game behind the Spartans in the El Camino Division.

The Spartans took advantage of five hits, one walk and two errors in their first inning to race to a 5-0 lead. The big blows in the inning came off the bats of Means and Joe Tepe, each stroking a two-run double. Paul Schonhardt drove in the fifth run with a single.

Davis went four innings and struck out six batters, surrendering two runs to improve to 7-4. He could have left the game unscathed as a potential inning-ending double-play grounder to the Spartans third baseman was thrown to right field for a costly error to let in two runs.

Davis’ performance, while not spectacular, was a far cry from his outing against Los Altos two days earlier.

“My velocity was there but my pitch was not moving,” he said after that game.

Davis’ ball movement returned Saturday, as attested by the five consecutive Ks to open the game. Having reached his pitch-count limit at the end of the fourth, Davis was relieved by Joe Hatasaki.

Pitching for the first time in three weeks, the southpaw freshman showed little rust by hurling three effective innings, giving up one run on three hits and striking out four. He showcased a nasty sinker changeup that had batters lunging at air.

“I believe in Joe, and his bullpen work is really paying off,” Mountain View head coach Jake Schwartzberg said.