McIntosh, Byorick Return to Starting Lineup as WVU Defeats Morehead State 7-1

After several players and head coach Randy Mazey were away from the team for its last series, West Virginia was happy to get a “boring”, 7-1 win over visiting Morehead State on Tuesday.

“It was super nice to have a little bit less of an emotional game,” assistant coach Steve Sabins said. “Guys threw strikes, they got big hits in big spots, they answered the call and we won by a considerable amount of runs. I said we needed a boring game, we needed a little bit less emotion. We just needed to play ball and go have fun together.”

The last two weeks have been strange for the Mountaineers. Two weekends ago their series against Kent State was canceled and the team was forced to go on a week-long COVID pause. Last weekend, WVU Sabins had to put seven freshmen in the starting lineup because not enough players were eligible to return yet.

Things began to return to normal in Tuesday’s win, as WVU (6-5) welcomed starters Paul McIntosh and Hudson Byorick back to the lineup against Morehead State (7-8). Hitting second and third, Byorick and McIntosh added instant stability to WVU’s lineup. They helped to set up a big third inning for the Mountaineers.

After right fielder Austin Davis was hit by a pitch, Byorick, starting at first base, hit a single through the left side of the infield and McIntosh, starting at catcher, walked to load the bases. That brought Saturday’s walk-off hero, freshman Mikey Kluska, to the plate. Kluska drove all three of them in with a triple to right field. Centerfielder Victor Scott then drove Kluska and left fielder Dom Ragazzo drove Scott in to give WVU a 5-0 lead.

“It’s definitely been a wild ride,” Scott, a sophomore, said after the game. “The older guys are taking younger guys under their belt and we’re learning a lot more from the older guys than we ever have. Getting that experience has been great.”

That was all the Mountaineers would need, as true freshman left-hander Ben Hampton (2-0, 1.12) was excellent in his first collegiate start. The Wisconsin native pitched four innings, allowing one run on two hits and striking out four. Sabins said Hampton could have gone deeper into the game but they kept him on a 50-pitch limit to save his arm for the weekend.

“He set the tone,” Sabins said. “It’s not easy to do what he’s done. He goes out as a freshman and has been dominant up to this point. Normally when a guy’s pitching how he’s been pitching, he would’ve been back out in the fifth but today we knew we had to keep him at a little bit lower pitch count.”

Tyler Strechay, Ben Abernathy and Tim Wynia followed Hampton out of the bullpen and combined for five scoreless innings to close the game.

WVU added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth when Byorick scored on a wild pitch and Scott drove in McIntosh with a double. Kluska finished 1 for 4 with three RBI, Byorick went 2 for 4 with two runs scored, McIntosh went 2 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored and Scott finished 2 for 4 with two RBI and a run scored.

MSU senior Will Lozinak took the loss, allowing three runs on two hits in 2 2/3 innings. Junior second baseman Bryce Hensor provided the Eagle’s only offense with a home run in the fourth inning.

WVU and MSU will play one more game to complete this midweek series Wednesday at 3 p.m. in Mon County Ballpark.