By Pete Borello

The Los Altos High baseball team reverted to its old ways last week in the SCVAL De Anza Division Championship Tournament.

“The bats went quiet,” coach Sandy Wihtol said.

In recent weeks the third-seeded Eagles showed signs of breaking out of a nearly season-long hitting slump, but their woes resurfaced in losing a best-of-three series to No. 2 Los Gatos.

Los Altos (18-10 overall) was limited to six runs and 14 hits over the three games. Almost all those runs came in Game 2, a 5-2 home win April 30. The Eagles fell 2-1 in the April 29 opener and were eliminated from title contention with Friday’s 3-0 setback, also played at Los Gatos.

Wihtol said Los Altos “had runners in scoring position in at least four innings” Friday, but “we took a lot of pitches again.”

The coach added that the umpiring only compounded the Eagles’ problems at the plate.

“It was horrendous,” said Wihtol, who argued with the home-plate umpire vehemently in the fifth inning and was ejected for only the second time in 12 years as coach. “The strike zone was so huge, it was ridiculous.”

Robert Cave took the loss Friday, allowing three runs and seven hits in a complete-game effort. Los Altos had just three hits, two on doubles by Bryan Macomber.

Danny Young produced three hits in Los Altos’ victory two days earlier. Starter Erik Johnson earned the win. “He pitched a heck of a game,” Wihtol said.

The coach said the same thing about Connor Smith, who took the loss in the opener. He surrendered five hits, the last of which won the game for the Wildcats with one out in the seventh.

Los Altos faces Homestead this week in a series to determine the consolation champ, and Wihtol is shaking up his lineup in hopes of revitalizing the offense.

“There will be some new starters,” he said. “It’s going to be like a tryout to see who can perform for CCS (playoffs).”

The Eagles were slated to host Tuesday’s opener, play at Homestead today (3:30 p.m.) and host the Mustangs Friday, if needed.

Contact Pete Borello at peteb@latc.com.