STATWATCH : Saugus Speedster Davis Sliding Toward a Title

Saugus leadoff hitter Darrell Davis, with 25 steals in 28 attempts (89%), is the leader among players at Valley-area schools above the 1-A level.

Davis (5-7, 140), nicknamed “Chili” by his teammates, was hot stuff on the basepaths last week, stealing five bases, four against Canyon. It was the second time this season that Davis has recorded four stolen bases in a game.

A little more than a week ago, Davis held a lead of seven over his nearest competition, Kevin Welk of La Canada.

Davis leads the Centurions in batting (.410), hits (32), runs scored (25) and on-base percentage (.632).

Hitting: Cleveland’s Mike Bergren, who is batting .429 with a slugging percentage of .694, hit two doubles last week to raise his total to five.

Teammate Lance Mandel belted a home run over the left-field fence at Reseda that landed on a front lawn across the street. It was the first home run of the year for Mandel, who has missed most of the season because of injury.

Kennedy second baseman Mike Schlesinger, moved into the starting lineup at mid-season, has made his mark for the Golden Cougars. In his past 22 at-bats, Schlesinger, the leadoff hitter, has 13 hits. Schlesinger has a six-game hitting streak for Kennedy, which has a seven-game win streak.

Chatsworth third baseman Joel Wolfe is batting .392 with 5 doubles, 2 home runs and 20 runs batted in.

Eight of Hart’s nine regulars have at least 20 hits. Six of the regulars are batting better than .350. Three starters--Lance Migita (.500), Robby Davis (.500) and Casey Burrill (.506)--have on-base percentages of .500 or better.

Canyon’s Brad Anderson has a 17-game hitting streak and is batting .375 (21 of 56).

Pitching: Chatsworth’s Derek Wallace is 7-0 with 6 saves and a 1.69 earned-run average. . . . Nick Lymberopoulos’ strep throat seems to have spread to his arm. Poly’s All-City pitcher has worked in three games despite being ill and has allowed 20 earned runs in his past 15 innings, raising his ERA from 0.89 to 3.57. Lymberopoulos struck out 19 during that span but allowed 26 hits and 11 walks.

Hart’s Jason Edwards pitched a complete-game shutout last week against Burroughs, lowering his ERA to 0.76 in 64 innings. Of the 260 batters he has faced, Edwards has walked only 15.

Running: Cleveland has stolen 29 bases in 35 attempts. Cleveland catcher Eric Buss has thrown out 30 of 45 baserunners attempting to steal.

Runs: Poly has scored at least eight runs against every East Valley League team except Sylmar, which the Parrots have beaten twice by scores of 1-0.

Records: Highland Hall’s Aaron Rudelson tied a school record Tuesday for wins in a season by recording his 12th.

Rudelson also has broken the school record for stolen bases in a season with 37, breaking his own mark of 32 set last year. The Hawks have broken last season’s team stolen base mark of 174, stealing 208 of 223.

BASEBALL TOP 10 Selected by sportswriters of the The Times

Last Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Hart Foothill 24-0 2 2 Chatsworth West Valley 21-1 3 3 Simi Valley Marmonte 20-4 4 5 Poly East Valley 17-3 5 8 Kennedy Mid-Valley 16-9 6 9 Thousand Oaks Marmonte 16-6-1 7 6 Notre Dame Del Rey 16-9 8 10 Rio Mesa Channel 17-6-1 9 7 St. Genevieve Santa Fe 18-2-1 10 4 Granada Hills Mid-Valley 13-4

NR--Not Rated. Through Tuesday’s games