No one, including baseball Coach Bud Murray,...

No one, including baseball Coach Bud Murray, expected Hart High to have such effective pitching, but the Indians are 8-1 with an earned-run average of 2.21 in 63 1/3 innings.

Junior right-hander Gary Stephenson has been the most solid. Stephenson is 2-1 with 19 strikeouts and an 0.98 ERA in 21 1/3 innings. But right-handers Doug Distaso, a senior, and Luis Sanchez, a freshman, have been even more of a pleasant surprise for Murray.

Distaso, a wide receiver on the school’s football team, had not previously pitched in high school and was not considered a pitcher until two months ago.

“I just kept bugging him about it and I knew we needed a pitcher,” Distaso said.

Distaso is 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA in 22 innings and has pitched a shutout. Sanchez also is 3-0 with two complete games and a 3.00 ERA in 16 1/3 innings.

“We spend a lot of time with our pitchers,” Murray said. “I know a little about pitching, so I always stick my nose in. If they can learn a few things and do what we say, they’ll be OK.”

Offense: Brodie VanWagenen and Jim Horacek, the right side of the Crespi infield, have the right stuff, at least when it comes to power numbers. Crespi has six home runs, compared to two last season, and VanWagenen already has three. Horacek, a first baseman and outfielder, has two. VanWagenen, a senior second baseman who signed early with Stanford, is 10 for 29 (.345) with 13 runs batted in. Horacek is 12 for 27 (.444) and has 12 RBIs. VanWagenen hit both of the Celts’ homers last spring. . . .

Senior John Aguilar leads Hart in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.500; 14 for 28), home runs (three), RBIs (11), runs (12), triples (three), doubles (two), on-base percentage (.622) and total bases (33). . . .

Johnny Olivares, a sophomore third baseman at Channel Islands, was hit three times by pitches Monday in a 17-3 win over Agoura. Olivares has been hit four times in the past two games. . . . Channel Islands catcher Jose Gastelum has driven in 19 runs in eight games and has struck out only once in 32 at-bats. . . .

Newbury Park catcher Robert Fick is batting .409 and shortstop David Lamb is batting .370. “Those were two guys we were counting on, and they haven’t let us down,” Coach Gary Fabricius said. . . . Crescenta Valley’s Josh Canale leads the Falcons in batting average (.474; nine for 19), runs (eight), home runs (three) and RBIs (eight). . . .

Highland’s Tom King is 11 for 26 (.423) with nine RBIs, three doubles and two home runs. Teammate Jeff Tepper (.381) has 13 RBIs, three doubles and three home runs. . . .

Chaminade leadoff batter Justin Giovannettone is hitless in 17 at-bats, but he has done a decent job of reaching base. In 26 plate appearances, Giovannettone has reached base nine times; he has been hit by a pitched ball five times and drawn four walks. Teammate Brian Powers, a junior outfielder, has been the Eagles’ best all-around player. Powers is 16 for 32, has four homers, scored 14 runs and driven in 11. . . .

Notre Dame (6-2-1) has pulled a role reversal. The Knights were expected to post solid offensive numbers and the pitching staff was viewed as questionable. Instead, Notre Dame has a .255 batting average with just three players batting .300 or better. The pitching staff, has an ERA of 1.70. “I gave out some team stat sheets to scouts the other day and they were calling me Houdini,” Coach Bob Mandeville said. “We keep getting four, five or six hits and winning games.”. . .

Canyon had better score a lot of runs if it expects to win. The Cowboys (2-4) have a .332 batting average and are averaging 5.6 runs per game. However, the Cowboys’ ERA is 8.35.

Pitching: Right-handers Greg Kmet and Kevin Tate have carried the load for Alemany (5-4-1, 2-1), which already has matched last season’s output of Mission League victories. Kmet, a sophomore who started the season on the junior varsity, has not given up a run in 13 innings, has struck out eight and walked two. Tate, a hard-throwing center fielder who is used solely in relief, is 2-0 with two saves and he has an ERA of 0.95. . . .

Poly had an ERA of 2.27 last year but lost four of its five pitchers to graduation. What Coach Jerry Cord thought would be the team’s weakness has turned out to be a strength. The team ERA is 2.20. Ray Gutierrez has not given up a run in six innings of relief. Senior left-hander Allen Alegria (2-1, 2.10) has given up six earned runs in 20 innings. Senior right-hander Eric Diaz (1-2), the Parrots’ lone returning pitcher, has a 2.63 ERA. . . .

Sylmar’s Jose Villafana (2-2) has 30 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings and has walked seven. Villafana has given up six earned runs for a team-low 1.73 ERA. . . . In 15 innings, Van Nuys left-hander Jaime Chacon (2-1) has allowed one earned run and only four hits. . . .

Oak Park pitchers Jeff Gibbons and Eric Kane have 0.00 ERAs. Gibbons is 3-0 in 16 innings; Kane is 1-0 with two saves in 14 innings. . . . In his first varsity start, Channel Islands senior Alex Zavala did not allow a hit in four innings of a 17-3 win over Agoura on Monday. Zavala, a right-hander, struck out three and earned the decision. . . .

L.A. Baptist sophomore right-hander Matt Hernandez (2-1) has struck out nine or more three times and has three complete games.

Stolen bases: Brad Imbler of L.A. Baptist had a flying start against Calvary Chapel in a 17-4 victory last week. He led off with a double, stole third and home, then walked later in the inning and stole second. . . .

Oak Park has stolen 23 bases in 25 attempts. Three players--Jeff Gibbons (six for six), Damian Delfino (five for five) and Eric Pryor (four for four)--are perfect on the basepaths. . . .

Hart’s Distaso has 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts, including a steal of home.

Extra-base hits: Cleveland’s Brian Basowski, a senior outfielder, has four triples in eight games. . . . Highland has 12 doubles and eight home runs--but no triples--in seven games.

Miscellaneous: Royal scored 11 runs in the fifth inning of a 14-2 win over Westlake on Monday. The inning included five errors, three hits, three walks, two wild pitches that allowed runners to score and three stolen bases that forced Westlake to change catchers in the inning. . . . Oak Park has turned six double plays.

Softball: Cara Shea, a sophomore right-hander at Moorpark, has 58 strikeouts and three walks in 41 innings. Shea (6-0) has not allowed an earned run and has given up 16 hits, an average of 2.73 a game.

Boys’ volleyball: Cleveland’s Loc Tran had 30 kills for the second time in two weeks and setter Martin Malinis added 68 assists to help the Cavaliers beat Chatsworth in four games. . . . One of the main reasons for Newbury Park’s 4-0 start in Marmonte League play is Ryan Grady, who had 32 kills against Agoura and 10 against Westlake. Grady’s setter, Jeremy Conyers, had 59 assists against Agoura and 21 against Westlake.

Statistics are current through Monday.

Regional Baseball

Top 10 Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Lst. Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Simi Valley Marmonte 6-1 2 3 Channel Islands Marmonte 8-0 3 2 Crespi Mission 6-2 4 5 Hart Foothill 8-1 5 7 El Camino Real West Valley 6-1 6 4 Granada Hills North Valley 7-1 7 8 Buena Channel 7-1 8 9 Kennedy North Valley 5-2 9 NR Notre Dame Mission 7-1-1 10 NR Taft West Valley 5-2-1

NR--Not ranked.