Baseball was part of life for young Tom Sankovich
Baseball was a part of young Tom Sankovich’s life at an early age. His father was the long-time head baseball coach at Connellsville High School.
“Playing with my dad being a coach and growing up you just couldn’t wait to get there and play,” Sankovich said. “It was sad to see when it was over. You couldn’t wait to play and it seems like it went too fast and it was over.”
Sankovich starred on Connellsville teams from 1982-85. The Falcons posted records of 26-3 with a WPIAL title in 1982. They were 19-9 and 18-8 in 1983 and 1984. They finished 16-5 and made it to the WPIAL quarterfinals in 1985.
Despite his dad being a coach, Sankovich wasn’t pushed by his father to play baseball.
“That’s the way he was,” Sankovich stated. “You look back, now you see parents are always involved with the kids. What he had was guys that stayed with the kids through little league and they taught they the fundamentals and he just polished them up when they got to high school. He just let me go play and he wasn’t involved with it when I was young.”
Sankovich relished playing for his father and with younger brother Brian.
“It was a good experience,” Sankovich explained. “Being a sophomore and playing you heard the whispers, he’s the coaches son, but you just had to go out and prove yourself. I think that’s what I ended up doing. He got on me more than other players, because he expected more from me, but it was a great experience.
“I was senior and Brian was a sophomore and we both got to play. That was great and the big thing was being part of my dad’s 300th win. I was the winning pitcher against Mount Pleasant and Brian had two hits in the game. I will always remember that.”
The 5-9, 165-pound Sankovich pitched for the Falcons and was a crackerjack shortstop. His sophomore year, his first as a starter, he hit .329, scored 35 runs and had 29 stolen bases. As a junior he hit .393, scored 29 runs and had 21 stolen bases. In his senior season Sankovich batted .393. He only committed seven errors in three seasons as a starter.
“I wasn’t a big guy,” Sankovich said. “I think the big thing I had going for me was I was fast and could play good defense. You always need those kind of players. I loved pitching, too. I loved competing on the mound.”
Sankovich had a solid career with Connellsville’s American Legion team.
“We had good baseball in the area,” Sankovich marveled. “I look back at Legion ball and the county league. Connellsville had a run of All-Star Legion players in the East-West All-Star game. I know I made it two years in a row. I played for Dearth in the County League and we were loaded. I played in the Mon Valley Collegiate League for Belle Vernon. We had real good team. We lost in the tournament in Newport News. It was great baseball.”
Sankovich was being recruited when he graduated from Connellsville in 1985 by Oklahoma State, North Carolina and Clemson, but wound up at Louisburg Junior College in North Carolina.
“Coming out of high school, of course, I wanted to go play baseball,” Sankovich stated. “My grades at the time weren’t the highest, so teams suggested I go to a junior college. I really wanted to go to North Carolina State or Maryland, where my dad went, they suggested a junior college and I went to Louisburg and played the fall season of 1985. I became homesick and that was a big mistake. At that time Louisburg was one of top junior college programs in the United States. I decided not to stay and came home. I enrolled at California University of Pa. and I played for four years there.”
Cal posted records of 18-21 in 1986-87, 23-19 in 1987-88, 23-20 in 1988-89 and 22-21-1 in 1989-90. Sankovich had solid numbers at shortstop, batting .296, .291 and .288. Sankovich is currently second in school history with 104 career walks (ranked second when finished). He currently is tied for 10th in school history with 117 career runs scored (ranked second when finished). Sankovich totaled 38 career stolen bases (fourth at the time, past 20th now) and is currently tied for sixth in single-season school history with 34 walks in 1988 (ranked second when finished).
“My last year there I had a job that I could take in Las Vegas with a buddy of mine,” Sankovich said. “I had some disagreements with coach Chuck Gismondi about playing time. I played and we qualified to go to the PSAC Championships in Wilkes-Barre that year. We needed to beat Lock Haven. I hit the only home run of my career, a grand slam, to help beat them and it was the last game I ever played.
“Looking back I played four years and made the most of getting an education. I played with some great people and had an enjoyable time playing baseball.”
Sankovich became a teacher and he coached a little bit. While substitute teaching at Laurel Highlands he coached girls softball with Carmen Grego in the early 1990’s, culminating with a No. 4 ranking in the WPIAL in 1994.
He got a job in Fredericksburg, Va., teaching and coaching middle school football for four years. Sankovich took a job with the Connellsville School District in 1998 and still teaches at Connellsville Junior High School. He was baseball coach at Southmoreland High School for two years and now coaches a traveling 14-and-under baseball squad.
Sankovich, 47 ,resides in Uniontown with his wife of 18 years Kandra. The have two sons: Travis and Tyler.
“Baseball has been my life,” Sankovich said. “My one hope is that I’d like to see baseball get back to the way it used to be in this area.”