He’s small in size, big in clutch

5-foot-5 sophomore delivers key hit in East Allegheny’s playoff victory

Traynor Janosko is the shortest player on East Allegheny’s team.

“I’m listed as 5-7, but I’m really 5-5,” Janosko said, smiling.

Janosko might be short, but he probably felt a little taller Tuesday after collecting the program’s biggest hit this century.

Janosko’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth gave East Allegheny a thrilling 5-4 win against Ellwood City in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round game at Highlands.

It’s a gigantic win for a program that has struggled mightily over the past two decades.

Already this season, East Allegheny (12-5) won its first section title, earned its first playoff appearance and clinched a winning record, all for the first time since 1999. Tuesday’s triumph against Ellwood City (8-11) was its first playoff win since 1998.

The sixth-seeded Wildcats will play No. 3 Avonworth (14-7) in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Despite the program’s past struggles, most of the current players have known nothing but winning in their baseball careers. That includes their six sophomore starters. Of East Allegheny’s 14 players, nine are sophomores and one is a freshman. The Wildcats have just two seniors.

“The trophy room I can show you from the tournaments is crazy,” said secondyear coach Mike Cahill, a 1992 East Allegheny graduate who has coached this group since T-ball. “We didn’t have enough room at the house. We actually started giving away second-place trophies for Halloween.”

Janosko, the starting second baseman and one of those super sophomores, played the hero role Tuesday. You could say baseball is pretty big in the Janosko family. He and his two brothers are all named after former Pirates — Trainor, Parker and Kendall.

Janosko was 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly heading into his final at-bat. He came to the plate with two outs and runners on first and second. Jax Jurisic had registered a oneout single and stole a base. After a flyout, Ellwood City elected to intentionally walk Joe Connors. That set the stage for Janosko, who smacked a 2-1 pitch from reliever Joseph Roth to left field. The hit scored Jurisic on what was a close play at the plate.

“I was looking for a fastball and that’s what I got, and I was able to take it the other way,” Janosko said.

It was an impressive comeback by East Allegheny, which found itself trailing, 20, when it came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. The Wildcats are not a particularly explosive offensive team. They scored a total of just 58 runs in the regular season and have not scored more than eight runs in any game.

“All season long we’ve been winning games like this,” Cahill said. “We haven’t put up big numbers on teams. We’ve been winning with good pitching, great defense and timely hitting.”

Ellwood City had gone ahead on Joseph Roth’s RBI triple in the first and scored a second run on a wild pitch in the fifth. Roth, also a star basketball player and state champion swimmer, finished with three hits, including two triples.

East Allegheny had just one hit through four innings against Ellwood City starter Nick Magnifico, but the offense came alive in the fifth. Connors hit an RBI double and Janosko a sacrifice fly, and Ryan Kirk followed with a 2-home run, the first homer by the Wildcats all season.

Trailing, 4-2, Ellwood City quickly got one back in the sixth when Alexander Roth scored on a two-out error. On that same play, an Ellwood City runner was tagged out at second, ending the inning. It was an important moment considering Joseph Roth was about to step to the plate with the bases loaded. “Monstrous,” Cahill said. Down to its final out in the seventh, Ellwood City tied the score on Alexander Roth’s RBI single. Michael Cahill, son of the coach, came on in relief to record the last out, and held Ellwood City without a base runner over the last two innings, finishing with five strikeouts.

Janosko’s clutch hit then gave East Allegheny something it hasn’t had in more than 20 years.

“EA baseball hasn’t been here in so long,” Janosko said. “I think it means a lot to the community and the school.”