Voytek Spins Third Shutout in a Row for Taft

Nathan Voytek’s head is spinning.

Good thing his curve is too.

The Taft High sophomore pitched his fourth shutout in five starts Thursday as the Toreadors defeated San Fernando, 2-0, in a Northwest Valley Conference game at Taft.

Ask the 5-foot-10, 160-pound right-hander the secret to his success and he shrugs. So does the baffled opposition.

“I’m as surprised as you are,” Voytek said.

And with good reason.

Last fall, Voytek left his mother behind and moved to California from Pennsylvania, specifically to play baseball. While playing in the 1989 Pony League World Series, Voytek (4-1) became friends with Larry Schneiderman, manager of the Encino Pony entry.

After considerable begging by Voytek, his mom agreed to let him move in with Schneiderman in Woodland Hills and try his hand as . . . a catcher?

“I never expected to pitch when I came out,” said Voytek, who allowed six singles, struck out one and walked two. “But a couple of guys got injured and I gave it a shot.”

A year ago, Voytek was a catcher on the freshman team at Trinity High in Washington, Pa. A few months later, his earned-run average looks like a picket fence and his off -off-speed pitches have opposing coaches climbing the wall.

Voytek, unafraid to throw the curve when behind in the count, has three consecutive shutouts and lowered his ERA to 1.11. His only bad outing came last month in a loss to El Camino Real in his second start when he allowed five earned runs.

“Normally, we don’t hit the ball much better than this,” San Fernando Coach Steve Marden said. “It seemed like every time we had something going, we hit it right at somebody. But give the guy credit, he threw a shutout.”

Voytek was nearly outdueled by San Fernando left-hander Jorge Gonzales (0-1), a sophomore who allowed four hits in 5 2/3 innings and carried a no-hitter into the fifth.

In the fifth, Greg Rosenzweig sent a ground single up the middle for Taft’s first hit and was sacrificed to second. Rosenzweig moved to third on a passed ball and scored for a 1-0 lead when pinch-hitter John Novak grounded to second.

Sophomore catcher Stacey Kleiner doubled home Darnell Hendricks to give Taft a 2-0 lead in the sixth.

San Fernando (7-6, 5-4) blew scoring chances in the fifth and seventh innings. With pinch-runner Lenny Avalos at first and one out in the fifth, Alfredo Hernandez sent a sinking liner to short left-center. However, center fielder Hendricks caught the ball with a headfirst dive, jumped to his feet and doubled off Avalos at first.

With two out in the seventh and runners at first and second, Hernandez grounded to second to end the game.