Family of major league baseball pitcher hails from Barnesville Football may be on the minds of most local sports fans right now, but there's plenty of baseball news to discuss including a Major League pitcher whose family hails from Barnesville, a terrific rookie season for a first baseman from Byesville and a Cambridge resident who's long-standing franchise pitching record is about to fall. Recently, the Colorado Rockies called up relief pitcher Matt Reynolds -- whose family hails from Barnesville -- and he's enjoyed a noteworthy start in the big leagues. A 6-5, 240-pound left-hander, Reynolds has pitched 6.1 scoreless innings thus far. In five appearances, he has allowed just two hits while striking out six and walking two with, obviously, a 0.00 earned-run average. Matt got the call up after turning in solid numbers for the Class AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox. In 50 games there, he had a 1-3 record with seven saves and a 2.62 E.R.A. In 55 innings, his numbers included 67 strikeouts and just 16 walks. For his efforts, which included 18 scoreless innings at the start of the season, he was named to the Pacific Coast League's Triple-A All-Star Game roster earlier this year. Reynolds -- who graduated from St. Charles West High School in the Chicago area -- was the Rockies' 20th round selection in the 2007 Amateur Draft after a fine career at Austin Peay University. While in college, he had a 14-7 record and was the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament MVP when his team won the league title in 2007. The name Reynolds is familiar to sports fans in Barnesville as Matt's father, Sam, was a standout football and baseball player for the Shamrocks in the 1970s. Sam Reynolds, who graduated from BHS in 1975, played football for Coach John Hutchinson and was an all-OVAC first team selection at linebacker who played in the OVAC All-Star Classic. By the way, Matt's mother, Eula (Conlon), was Barnesville's Queen of Queen candidate that same year. He went on to play tight end at Marietta College. Sam played catcher for the Rocks under Coach Mike Longo and also played for the Barnesville Greens of the UMW sandlot league. The Reynolds live in Knoxville, Tennessee where Sam is CEO of Vinylex Corporation and Eula is a nurse. Matt has relatives in Barnesville, including his grandparents Lee and Patty Reynolds and his uncle and aunt, Keith and Barbara Wells.
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