City Section Suspends Voytek for One Year : Prep baseball: Taft sophomore pitcher is punished for discrepancies in the reporting of his place of residence.

The City Section has suspended Taft High pitcher Nathan Voytek from participating in athletics for one year for incorrectly reporting that he lived in Taft’s attendance area when he registered for school last fall.

The City’s Rules Committee handed down the decision after receiving a report on Voytek’s residency from Taft Principal Ron Berz. Lee Joseph, a City athletics administrator, said that the Taft investigation revealed discrepancies in the reporting of Voytek’s place of residence.

“Failure to provide complete and accurate information . . . means the player cannot represent the school for one year,” Joseph said.

According to Joseph, Voytek will be ineligible until May 9, 1992, but he can appeal the ruling to a committee chaired by Dick Browning, an administrator in the senior high schools division. If Browning upholds the suspension, Voytek can file an appeal with the California Interscholastic Federation office.

Larry Schneiderman, with whom Voytek resides, was out of town Thursday and unavailable for comment. Voytek, a sophomore, said he had not been contacted regarding the ruling.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Voytek said. “I just assumed I’d be pitching next year.”

Schneiderman has stated that he and Voytek lived at the Tarzana home of Taft pitching coach Steve Singer for most of the school year. Before moving in with Singer--whose home is located on Veloz Avenue within the Taft attendance area--Schneiderman said he lived in Van Nuys.

“The opinion of the Rules Committee was that (Schneiderman) never established residence at Veloz,” said Hal Harkness, the City athletics commissioner. “They never felt that was his primary residence.”

Singer’s house is owned by his mother. Voytek and Schneiderman relocated to Woodland Hills in late April.

It was unclear whether the suspension would bar Voytek from competing in a California section other than the City, but Joseph predicted that the other sections would uphold the decision.

It marked the second suspension this season for Voytek, who was 6-1 with an earned-run average of 1.21 for the Toreadors. Voytek (5-foot-10, 160 pounds) recorded shutout victories over Venice, San Fernando, Granada Hills and Cleveland, and during one stretch had a string of 28 consecutive scoreless innings.

All of his shutout victories were subsequently forfeited when the City ruled last month that Voytek had violated a state transfer rule when he moved to Los Angeles from Washington, Pa., without his mother. After an appeal, Voytek was reinstated April 30, but the forfeitures were upheld. In all, Taft forfeited five victories in which Voytek appeared.

On May 14, Taft officials--acting on a tip from an anonymous caller--suspended Voytek two days before Taft’s game against Sylmar in the first round of the 4-A Division playoffs. School officials then investigated Voytek’s residency. Berz described the inquiry as a look into the “accuracy and legitimacy” of Schneiderman’s place of residence.

Berz was unavailable for comment Thursday but previously characterized Voytek as “a pawn.”

“The thing I feel bad about is that, in my opinion, the kid has been a victim,” Berz said.

Upon his arrival in California, Voytek moved in with Schneiderman, who has filed the paperwork to become Voytek’s foster parent. Schneiderman said the two met during the 1989 Pony World Series in Voytek’s hometown. Schneiderman, who will coach the West baseball team in the Olympic Festival in July, was coach of the Encino Pony entry.

Voytek first was ruled ineligible because his single mother, his guardian of record, did not accompany him during his change of residence.