McIntosh and Scott Hit Home Runs as WVU Baseball Completes Sweep of Morehead State

West Virginia got a good start out of freshman Carlson Reed and power out of the middle of its lineup as the Mountaineers completed a quick two-game sweep of visiting Morehead State Wednesday.

In the first start of his collegiate career, Reed (0-0, 0.00) pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out two.

“What we saw [from Reed] was special,” assistant coach Steve Sabins said after the game. “It was really unique stuff coming out of a freshman. The velocity, the confidence, the breaking ball. He was up to 97 miles-per-hour and it looked like he could’ve kept going.”

Reed threw 43 pitches in the outing as Sabins was on a pitch limit of about 50. Sabins said a lot of WVU’s younger pitchers are on some sort of pitch limits because of the recent week-long COVID pause the team went through. Morehead State put a run on the board in the top of the fourth inning off of reliever Tyler Chadwick, but West Virginia came back in the bottom of the inning.

Paul McIntosh, who started in left field, drove in first baseman Hudson Byorick on a sac fly to tie the game at one. The next batter, centerfielder Victor Scott, hit a two-run home run over the right-field fence that scored freshman Mikey Kluska and put WVU up 3-1.

The Eagles added another run in the top of the sixth off reliever Noah Short, but the Mountaineers responded again. This time, it was a McIntosh home run in the bottom of the seventh that pushed WVU’s lead back to two runs.

Right-hander Madison Jeffrey came on in the ninth to close out the win, striking out all three MSU batter he faced and picking up the save.

“It was great, finally being back on the field is awesome,” McIntosh said after the game. “We work our butts off every day, even through the shutdown. It was just good to be back and get a couple of wins with the boys.”

Chadwick (1-0, 3.37) picked up the win and MSU senior Cory Conway (2-1, 2.55) took the loss, allowing three runs in relief of starter Matt Bettio.

McIntosh finished 2 for 3 with the home run and two RBI. Scott went 1 for 3 with a home run and two RBI and Kluska finished 3 for 4 with a run scored. First baseman Jackson Feltner and right fielder Ryan Layne had the two RBIs for Morehead State.

WVU will continue its homestand with a three-game series against Coastal Carolina this weekend.  CCU defeated WVU 10-5 in a game earlier this season on Feb. 27. The two teams will kick-off the weened series with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch Friday evening at Mon County Ballpark.