CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- J.R. House is sticking with baseball, two newspapers reported Wednesday.

House has decided to forgo his opportunity to play quarterback for West Virginia University, instead concentrating on his career with Pittsburgh Pirates' affiliate Altoona Curve, according to the Charleston Daily Mail and the Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal.

The Daily Mail reported that House will use a post-game news conference Wednesday night to announce he's giving up aspirations of playing college football this fall.

Altoona was scheduled to host the Reading (Pa.) Phillies.

"I can't tell you anything," House told The Associated Press Wednesday. "I'm sorry."

House said the team asked him to wait until after the game.

Wednesday was the deadline House and first-year WVU Coach Rich Rodriguez had set for the 21-year-old to make a decision between baseball and football.

"I've hardly slept all week," House told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

"The baseball thing, being this close to making it to the major leagues ... makes a big difference," House told the News-Journal.

The Daily Mail also reported that House liked what he heard from Kevin McClatchy when he met with the Pirate owner, along with Manager Lloyd McClendon, on Monday in Pittsburgh. He also toured PNC Park.

No guarantees were made to House, nor did House demand anything in return for opting out of football, the newspaper reported.

"I'm still really close to J.R. and I just want what's best for him," said Nitro Coach Scott Tinsley.

"I think his future is with baseball, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to watching him throw the football around again. He was awful good at it."

House set multiple records in his high school career, including a national record 10 touchdown passes in Nitro High School's victory in the West Virginia Class AAA championship game in 1998.

He still holds the national scholastic record of 14,457 yards passing in his career and several other national records.

House is a two-time winner of the Kennedy Award, which is given to the state's best high school football player.

When House was in high school, some college scouts felt his height -- he is listed at 6-foot-1 and 202 pounds, but could be at least an inch smaller - would limit his ability to see over the line of scrimmage and read defenses.

House gave up his football career after the Pirates drafted him in the fifth round of the June 1999 draft and paid him a $266,000 signing bonus.

He hit .348 with 23 homers and 90 RBI last season at Class-A Hickory (N.C.) and recently had a team record five consecutive extra-base hits for Altoona.

House is in only his second year of pro baseball but is considered the top catching prospect in the Pirate farm system and among the top prospects in all of Major League Baseball.