Simi Valley High’s Kevin Nykoluk, who hit...

Simi Valley High’s Kevin Nykoluk, who hit seven home runs last season, has four in Simi Valley’s first five games. Nykoluk, Cal-Hi Sports magazine’s state sophomore player of the year last season, needs 11 to tie Scott Sharts’ 1988 school record of 15. Nykoluk’s 11 career homers are 21 shy of Sharts’ Southern Section record, set in 1986-88.

Batting: Channel Islands catcher Jose Gastelum, who drove in seven runs in a 10-7 win over Buena in a Westside tournament game Friday, has 15 runs batted in. In other tournament games, Gastelum drove in three runs in a 3-1 win over Alemany and added two RBIs in a 6-4 win over St. Bernard. . . .

St. Genevieve’s Sergio Ramos has a 19-game hitting streak dating to last season. He is six for 11 in four games with a double, triple and home run. . . .

Van Nuys’ Alex Alvarenga is five for seven (.714) after two L.A. Invitational tournament wins. . . .

Moorpark’s Rob Walker and Ken Ditto are batting .714. Walker has two triples; Ditto has a triple and a homer. . . .

Chaminade’s Brian Powers is 13 for 23 (.565) with 10 RBIs and three home runs. . . .

Antelope Valley’s Peter Holt is batting a team-high .375 (six for 16). . . .

St. Bonaventure’s John McNamara is batting .500 (nine for 18) and has 10 RBIs. McNamara has two doubles, a triple and a home run. Teammate Gino Nucci is batting .647 (11 for 17) and has seven RBIs. Nucci has two doubles and two triples. . . .

Agoura had 27 hits during a sweep of a nonleague doubleheader against Littlerock on Saturday. Twenty-four were singles. . . .

Harvard-Westlake has 46 hits in five games. The Wolverines have three 10-hit games.

Trivia time: Which regional team tied a Southern Section single-game record with eight home runs in 1980? Hint: The team also set a Southern Section record, since broken, with 42 home runs that season. (Answer below).

Stolen bases: Chaminade has stolen 28 bases in 30 attempts and has outscored its opponents, 65-39, in six games. . . . Notre Dame, a Mission League rival of Chaminade’s, has swiped 16 in 19 attempts.

Pitching: Junior Chris Garza is off to a 3-0 start, accounting for all of Notre Dame’s victories. Nearly every inning has been an adventure. In 14 innings, Garza has struck out 19 and given up seven hits and three earned runs. However, he has walked 16 and hit two batters. Twenty-five batters have reached base in his 14 innings--discounting errors behind him.

The Notre Dame staff has walked 31, struck out 35 and given up 29 hits in 36 2/3 innings, yet has a solid earned-run average of 2.30. . . .

Sophomore Joel Zamudio made his high school debut last week for Monroe and picked up a victory in relief. Zamudio did not give up a hit and struck out five in the final three innings against Narbonne. . . .

Quartz Hill’s Ryan Wilson has pitched four perfect innings in relief in two games. Wilson threw 22 pitches--17 of them strikes--in two innings Saturday to earn a win against Barstow. . . . Crescenta Valley junior Eric Cadena has two saves.

Records: Looking for the area’s toughest league lineup? A strong case could be presented on behalf of the North Valley League. Kennedy (3-0), San Fernando (3-0), Granada Hills (3-0) and Cleveland (2-0-1) have yet to lose. . . .

Valley Pac-8 Conference teams have struggled out of the gate. Pac-8 teams are 8-14-1 in tournament play. Van Nuys (2-0) and Monroe (1-0-1) are the only teams above .500. . . .

Sylmar (2-3) has lost three consecutive games in the Westside tournament. The Spartans are averaging five hits and 2.4 errors a game.

Miscellaneous: Hart’s Doug Distaso, who has six stolen bases in seven attempts, has emerged as the Indians’ No. 1 pitcher. He is 1-0, including a one-hitter against Taft in the Indians’ 2-0 victory. . . . St. Francis, which played its first six games in nine days, will play its next two in 10 days. . . . L. A. Baptist’s three losses have come by a total of four runs.

Trivia answer: Rio Mesa. The Spartans hit eight home runs against pitching-thin L. A. Baptist.

Softball: Simi Valley’s Kathy Beasley, who batted .727, was the most valuable player of the Simi Valley tournament. Three players were named to the all-tournament team for the Pioneers, who won their second consecutive championship.

Statistics are current through Monday.

Regional Baseball

Top 10 Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Lst. Rk Wk Team League Record 1 2 Simi Valley Marmonte 4-1 2 1 Crespi Mission 4-1 3 5 Channel Islands Marmonte 6-0 4 7 Monroe Mid-Valley 2-0-1 5 4 Kennedy North Valley 3-1 6 9 Cleveland North Valley 3-0-1 7 NR Hart Foothill 5-1 8 NR Granada Hills North Valley 4-0 9 NR San Fernando North Valley 3-1 10 NR Notre Dame Mission 3-1-1

NR--Not ranked.