Pitchers Snyder, Ortiz, Catcher Voita Take Steps to Attend Major Colleges

A trio of area high school athletes will continue their baseball careers at NCAA Division I schools next season.

Two are pitchers--Westlake’s John Snyder and Montclair Prep’s Russell Ortiz--and the other is a catcher--Sam Voita of Granada Hills.

Snyder (6-foot-2, 170 pounds), a right-hander whose fastball has been clocked at 87 m.p.h., has signed a letter of intent to play at Cal State Long Beach, Westlake Coach Rich Herrera said Thursday.

Snyder is 4-3 this season with 70 strikeouts in 40 innings and has an earned-run average of 1.58. He visited only Long Beach.

Ortiz chose Oklahoma over Long Beach and said he will sign today. Ortiz (6-0, 180), who said he felt “more comfortable” with Oklahoma, is 5-0 with a 2.72 ERA.

“They always get great crowds there,” Ortiz said. “Everyone loves college baseball there. That’s all there is. Kids come for autographs, players are well-respected.”

Ortiz’s ERA has more than doubled since last season. He was 11-1 with a 1.30 ERA as a junior and 7-1 with a 1.62 ERA as a sophomore.

“I thought the pros might be an option in the beginning of the season,” Ortiz said. “Right now, I don’t think it’s that big an option.”

Voita signed this week with Pepperdine. Voita, who said he also considered playing at The Master’s, entered the week with a batting average of .375.

“I wanted to go to a Christian school that was near my home,” said Voita, who transferred to Granada Hills from Calabasas after his sophomore season.

Voita (6-1, 190) has three home runs, four doubles and 13 runs batted in.