Plum baseball looks forward to postseason

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, May 4, 2018 | 11:39 PM

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The Plum Mustangs are in a familiar position, having clinched their 12th consecutive WPIAL baseball playoff berth before the calendar turned to May.

But following last year's ouster in the WPIAL quarterfinals, Plum clearly wants a lengthy postseason trip such as the one experienced two years ago when the Mustangs made both the WPIAL and PIAA finals.

Plum also finished the week still in contention for the 19th section title in school diamond history. The first came in 1941, only the second year of the school's existence.

“Honestly, things had been going real well, we had won all of our games the second time through the section until we lost to Penn-Trafford,” said Mustangs coach Carl Vollmer. “Hopefully, we can finish the section in a very strong manner. I feel like we can compete with anybody.”

The WPIAL playoff pairings are scheduled to be released late Friday afternoon with the tournament getting underway May 14.

“Playoffs and section wins are our goal,” senior catcher Tanner Froelich said. “We've shown that we have fight every single game. It's just keeping up tradition and making the playoffs.”

Plum would like to get a first-round bye. With four schools from each of the three Class 6A sections making it to the postseason, that could mean as many as four teams would get first-round byes and not have to use any of its pitchers.

Less teams getting byes would be the result of fourth-place ties.

“Absolutely, getting a bye is a goal,” Vollmer said. “The crazy thing is, it's impossible to determine how many byes there are going to be, depending on the ties. If you can get one, it's obviously a tremendous advantage.”

The Mustangs have always developed solid team leaders, and 2018 is no different.

Froelich has kept his batting average over .400 and has power, as illustrated by his towering home run last week against Penn-Trafford in the deepest part of the Plum ballpark.

With his surname part of Plum sports over multiple generations, Froelich enjoys being part of the tradition.

“It's really just a dream,” Froelich said. “Ever since I was young, I'd go to the baseball camps and help. I can tell you the rosters from the time I was about 7 years old. They were role models to me, and I see us molding into this type of tradition we'd like to see keep going into the future.”

Froelich will continue his academic and baseball career in the fall at Seton Hill and plans to study exercise science.

As the postseason approaches, Vollmer likes his team's improvement as the season wore on.

“One thing we have to shore up is defense,” the veteran coach said. “I think we had done that up until the Penn-Trafford game. We're a better team now, defensively, than we were three weeks ago.”

Infielder Jackson Rogers also is having a banner season, batting .500 over the first month of the campaign.

Versatile Dom Carlisano, who can play a number of positions, is among the WPIAL's RBI leaders, and pitcher Ryan Kirschner is one of the strikeout leaders.

George Guido is a freelance writer.

Tags: Plum