A catcher leading a team in stolen...

A catcher leading a team in stolen bases?

Why not? St. Bonaventure High’s John McNamara leads the Seraphs in virtually every other offensive category.

McNamara, a 6-foot-3, 197-pound junior, has 11 stolen bases to go with team-high numbers in batting average (.524), runs (14), hits (22), home runs (four), runs batted in (24), slugging percentage (.952) and on-base percentage (.612).

McNamara also is carrying a 14-game hitting streak, dating to the final game of last season, a season in which he batted .347.

According to St. Bonaventure Coach Dennis Johnson, college recruiters already are beginning to take notice of Big--but fast--Mac.

“A whole potpourri of universities are looking at him,” Johnson said. “Everyone from Arizona to Rice to smaller schools like Santa Clara.”

Offense: Oak Park has a school-record 50 stolen bases in 62 attempts. Eric Pryor has 10 stolen bases in 10 attempts. Jeff Gibbons is 10 for 11, Kevin Pryor is seven for seven and Damin Sterling is 11 for 15. . . .

Six Grant players have hit four or more doubles. Justin Howard and Nick Oriti lead the onslaught with seven each, followed by Jim Guth with six. Five of the six with four or more doubles have at least 10 runs batted in. Petur Georgesson leads the Lancers with 19, followed by Oriti (14), Peter Chong (13), Guth (12) and Jose Velazquez (12).

Jim Chergey of Thousand Oaks has five home runs in his past seven games. . . . Van Nuys senior Patrick Alvarado is nine for 13 (.692) in his past four games.

Verdugo Hills’ Matt Ward leads Valley City Section players with six home runs. . . . In Verdugo Hills’ past four games, the Dons (7-4, 5-2 in league play) have had 54 hits and have outscored opponents, 47-6. The past three victories have been shutouts.

Crescenta Valley has not hit a triple this season, Burbank has not hit a home run.

Antelope Valley’s Ryan Branch has walked 11 times in 12 games. Branch is batting .273 but has an on-base percentage of .614.

Pitching: Grant’s Justin Salazar (3-0), the winningest pitcher in the Valley Pac-8 Conference, has picked up all of his decisions in relief. Salazar has pitched in eight of Grant’s 13 games. In 14 1/3 innings, he has allowed 13 hits and has an earned-run average of 1.96. Salazar, the only Grant pitcher to earn a save, has struck out 14 and walked three. . . . Grant ace Tony Kuper (2-2, 0.85) has 42 strikeouts in 33 innings.

Monroe’s ERA is 1.77. Robert Ballester (1-0), who made his first start last week, leads the Vikings with an 0.53 ERA. Adrian Lovrich (2-2) has given up just eight earned runs in 29 2/3 innings (1.89) and Jorge Dorado (4-1, 2.05) has 37 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings.

Newbury Park has hit 16 batters in 16 games. Senior left-hander Bryant Fick has hit eight batters. The Panthers have limited opponents to a .199 batting average. . . . Santa Clara junior right-hander Eric Starna is 5-0 with five complete games.

Fielding: Newbury Park has committed 41 errors in 16 games but is 8-8. . . . Oakwood committed 15 errors in a 23-2 Liberty League loss to Providence. . . . Simi Valley junior shortstop Ryan Briggs was named the Colonial tournament’s golden glove winner for his play last week in Florida.

Track and field: The Thousand Oaks girls’ 400-meter relay team of Wendy Wendelstein, Lisa Gillette, Heather Hanger and Marion Jones moved to ninth on the all-time region list when they timed 47.76 seconds to finish fourth in the invitational race at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on Saturday.

Mike Wright of Glendale moved into a tie for 11th on the all-time region list in the long jump when he leaped 23 feet 9 1/2 inches to finish second in the invitational portion of the Mt. SAC Relays. Wright is tied with Michael Pringle of Kennedy (1985) and Russell White of Crespi (1989).

Volleyball: Kevin Cochran of Nordhoff set a school record with 38 kills last week in a five-game victory over previously unbeaten Bishop Diego. Tim Sebek had a career-high 27 kills and Jeremy Stallings added 67 assists for the Rangers in the same match. . . . Josh Bailey of Birmingham had 36 kills and Hye Kwon added seven blocks and 57 assists as the Braves handed Van Nuys its first loss in 10 matches. . . . Grant defeated Sylmar twice last week behind the hitting of Steve Cha, who had 23 and 26 kills. . . . Lee Sprague helped Campbell Hall to a five-game win over St. Monica with 32 kills.

Statistics are current through Monday.

Regional Baseball

Top 10 Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Lst. Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Channel Islands Marmonte 15-1 2 7 Simi Valley Marmonte 12-5 3 2 Hart Foothill 14-2 4 NR Kennedy North Valley 13-5 5 NR El Camino Real West Valley 10-4 6 4 Taft West Valley 9-4-1 7 8 Alemany Mission 12-5-1 8 3 Notre Dame Mission 10-4-1 9 10 Crespi Mission 12-4 10 9 Royal Marmonte 11-4

NR--Not ranked.