Controversial Taft Pitcher Returns to Pennsylvania : Prep baseball: Voytek, whose lone season with Toreadors was marked by shutouts and administrative battles, cites family concerns.

Nathan Voytek, a pitcher for the Taft High baseball team who turned the Northwest Valley Conference upside-down last spring, has withdrawn from the school and moved back to Pennsylvania.

Voytek, who as an unheralded sophomore last season was 6-1 with an earned-run average of 1.21, left California over the holiday vacation and decided to again enroll at Trinity High in Washington, Pa., the school he attended before he left his family behind and moved to California.

Homesickness and his mother’s desire to reunite Nathan with her and Nathan’s sister were largely responsible for the move. Voytek’s father died of a heart attack in the summer of 1990.

“He just decided to stay here,” his mother Joan Voytek said via telephone. “It’s a move that needed to be made and we hope it’s the right one.”

Voytek, 17, started the 1991 season as a reserve catcher with no varsity experience but soon found his niche on the mound. During one stretch, he threw 28 consecutive scoreless innings and finished the season with four shutouts.

But Voytek also was involved in several skirmishes with Taft and City Section officials over his athletic eligibility. He moved to California in 1990 to live with Larry Schneiderman, a coach he had met during the Pony World Series that summer.

Schneiderman filed paper work to assume guardianship of Voytek, but the right-hander was declared ineligible when the City Section ruled that Joan Voytek, not Schneiderman, was Voytek’s guardian of record. Voytek subsequently was granted an after-the-fact hardship waiver.

During the playoffs last spring, Voytek was ruled ineligible when the City Section determined that Schneiderman did not reside within Taft’s attendance area. Voytek was reinstated after an appeals hearing Dec. 5.

“His mom wasn’t real happy with the way things turned out,” Taft Coach Rich McKeon said. “I wish he could have stayed. He was a breath of fresh air, a good kid and a hard worker.”

Voytek’s mother said that she did not regret sending her only son to California, despite his eligibility problems.

“It was fantastic for him,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade his experiences for anything. His exposure to (McKeon) and the kids out there--it was all just ideal.”

Said Voytek: “It definitely helped me a lot. I got to see different parts of life and it helped me mature. I don’t regret it at all.”

Yet Voytek’s voyage might not be over. Voytek’s mother said she hopes that Nathan can return to Taft for his senior year, if she can set aside enough money. Her husband’s death caused emotional and financial difficulties for the family.

“I’m not sure it’s over yet,” Voytek said. “Don’t close the book on me yet.”