According to Owlz pitching coach Zeke Zimmerman, Plefka's experiences and the lessons he learned at Texas Tech have been extremely helpful on the diamond, especially as the first half of the season concluded and the Owlz found themselves battling for the division title.

"The biggest thing is he's not going to change who he is," Zimmerman said. "Whatever he is, he's going to be in all situations. He's going to carry the same level of intensity and craziness. His relationship with his teammates isn't going to change and they feed off that."

Such an attitude is extremely important, Zimmerman pointed out.

"Any time you're put in an arena where you have a large amount of people and it's a highly intense situation, you get to see how much you can slow your game down," Zimmerman said. "He's been put in those situations. Pitching in front of these four or five thousand people here is probably child's play for him."

Plefka's numbers so far this season are by no means amazing. In the first half, he allowed 14 runs and 15 hits in just 13 1/3 innings. But even so, Zimmerman says he's seen a vast improvement from last year.

"When he was in the instruction league last year, he was throwing 82-84 mph," Zimmerman said. "He's 88-92 now. He's developed a change-up, he's developed a slider and he's become a strike-thrower. Be careful telling him there's something he can't do."

Plefka also has a unique way of keeping everybody loose.

"He has a knack for doing voices," Zimmerman said. "He can do a southern accent or he can do a Latino accent. He can sound just like them and it cracks me up. Just today he was talking to Francis Cabrera from the Dominican Republic. He said something and then did something that Francis does. I was like, 'That's Francis' and I turn around and it was Plef. It was hilarious."

Plefka may even be able to impersonate manager Tom Kotchman, but Zimmerman has yet to hear that one.

"He probably does that somewhere else," Zimmerman said with a chuckle. "He'll probably break it out as we get going along."

First baseman Gabe Jacobo, who left the Owlz after last Sunday's game to go play for the Angels' Class-A affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa enjoyed his time playing with Plefka.

"We like to hear Bobby Knight stories," Jacobo said with a small grin. "He knows what pressure is. He's been there."