Carl Vollmer sounds more like a philosopher than a baseball coach when he speaks to his Plum Mustangs.
Some excerpts from his articulate pep talks:
Vollmer is well aware that actions speak louder than words, but the first-year coach also knows that a talented team needs guidance.
Apparently, the team has bought into the coach's philosophies.
Plum is off to a quick start under Vollmer, a former Plum junior varsity coach. The Mustangs stand alone in first place in Section 4-AAAA at .
"I knew we had kids who could play, but they didn't have a lot of experience," Vollmer said. "We had a lot of question marks, a lot of ifs.
"What's happened is a lot of those ifs have really stepped up."
Through Thursday, Plum was hitting .383 as a team and had scored 66 runs, an average of 9.4 a game.
"I knew we had the ability to score some runs, and our hitters have met expectations," Vollmer said. "But I really think we have yet to play our best baseball."
The inexperience was most evident in the pitching staff, which had less than 10 innings of varsity experience coming into the season.
But the Mustang hurlers have looked like seasoned veterans early on, posting a 3.00 earned-run average through seven games with 38 strikeouts.
A steady starting rotation, which includes seniors Mike McKee and Matt Kachurik and sophomore Scott Kachurik, has given way to stingy bullpen.
Late relievers Ryan Webb, a sophomore, and freshman Scott McGough have made leads hold up.
McGough, the younger brother of last year's ace, Eric McGough, has a team-high three saves.
"Everyone just stepped into the role we asked them to, and they're getting the job done," Vollmer said. "It's been nice that when one thing has not been up to our standards, we've been good enough in other areas to compensate. Our relief pitching has been very strong."
Plum has scored nine or more runs four times, including wins of 13-0, 12-2 and 14-0 over Penn Hills, Franklin Regional and McKeesport, respectively.
McKeesport is coached by former Plum coach Tom McCarthy.
"You don't want to put a limit or a tap on what the kids can do," Vollmer said. "We have to continue to raise our level of expectations."
The Mustang lineup is top-heavy with the first five hitters -- senior infielder Brian Churilla, senior outfielder Phil Mains, senior second baseman Steve Beckett, senior first baseman Matt Kachurik and McKee -- providing most of the offense.
Churilla and McKee didn't even play last season, for various personal reasons.
"Those two were a couple of the question marks," Vollmer said. "I don't know where we'd be without them."
Four players were batting .500 or better at mid-week -- Mains (.550), McKee (.533), Churilla (.533) and Matt Kachurik (.500).
The key could be the athletic group of seniors, several of whom have made impacts in other sports.
McKee is headed to Kent State on a full basketball scholarship; Matt Kachurik will play college football at Thiel College; and Phil Mains also is a key player in hockey and football.
Plum had two nonsection games postponed -- March 24 at Burrell, and April 2 vs. Shaler.
Being that both of those opponents are playoff-caliber teams -- Burrell in Class AA and Shaler in Quad-A -- Vollmer wants to make up both games.
The Shaler game has been rescheduled for 4 p.m. May 4 at Plum. The Burrell game has not been rescheduled yet.
"We didn't schedule those teams by accident," Vollmer said. "A lot of thought went into our scheduling. We wanted a good, challenging schedule."
Vollmer knows his team is playing well, but doesn't want the Mustangs to get ahead of themselves.
"We can't get complacent and relax," Vollmer said.
He couldn't have said it any better.
