THE FLYING TIGERS ... Lakeland enters the series with a 2-2 record in second half after splitting a four-game series at Sarasota to start the second half. Overall, Lakeland is 31-18 on the season having gone 4-3 its last seven games. L.J. Gagnier leads the FSL with 77 strikeouts. Lakeland is ninth in the FSL with a .245 average and is 11th in runs scored. The Flying Tigers are also third in the FSL with a .974 fielding percentage thanks in part to Justin Henry who leads all league second baseman with a .991 mark and just two errors in 211 total chances.
FT. MYERS ... The Miracle, the league’s top hitting team with a .268 average and second best staff with a 3.04 ERA, are 1-3 after dropping three of four games at home to Daytona including the last three straight. Overall, Ft. Myers, the first-half South Division winner, is 44-29 on the season. Chris Parmelee, who is third in the FSL with 42 RBI, is 7x11 (.634) with seven RBI his last four games. David Bromberg has 39 strikeouts his last five starts, yet is only 1-0 in those games with the one win coming back on May 30. He is seventh in the FSL with a 2.66 ERA to go with his perfect 5-0 record. Ben Revere is third in the FSL with a .321 average and fourth with 28 stolen bases.
THE SERIES ... The Miracle took two of three games in Ft. Myers on June 9 and 10 with the first game of the series getting rained out. Ft. Myers came back the next night to sweep a doubleheader shutting out Lakeland 4-0 in the first game that Flying Tigers’ commander Andy Barkett watched from the clubhouse having been ejected in the first inning. Game two went 5-4 in favor of the home team while Lakeland flipped the score the next night, winning 5-4 with Michael Bertram and Jordan Newton hitting home runs. That game sparked a four-game win streak by Lakeland, their longest of the season.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
June 29 - Charlie Furbursh is 1-3 with a 5.00 ERA in his last eight starts. In six of those eight starts he allowed two or fewer runs. His last win came back on June 12. In his last start, he worked 5.2 innings on June 24 in the opening game of a doubleheader against Daytona, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and no walks.
June 30 - L.J. Gagnier is 2-1 with a 1.71 ERA in his last three starts. He is coming off a 13 strikeout performance in a complete game loss at Sarasota on June 25. He walked just one that game holding Sarasota to five hits over his 8.0 innings pitched. Gagnier has struck out 41 batters his last five games.
July 1 - Andrew Hess is 1-3 in his last five starts with a 4.66 ERA. He is coming off his best outing of the season working 7.0 scoreless innings on June 26 at Sarasota holding the Reds to six hits with four strikeouts and two walks. It was his first start since working 2.0 scoreless innings in the FSL All-Star game on June 20.
July 2 - Mauricio Robles is 1-1 since joining Lakeland on June 21. He was lit up his first game, allowing five earned runs on nine hits in just 2.2 innings pitched. He rebounded with a 10 strikeout game on June 27 at Sarasota, picking up the win despite allowing four earned runs in 6.0 innings.
FINALLY, A ROAD BOMB ... Chris Carlson hit his team-leading ninth homer of the season on Sunday, marking his first round-tripper hit away from spacious Marchant Stadium this season. He now as 40 for his minor league career and needs one more this season to reach double digits in each of his four minor league seasons.
THREE IN A ROW ... Chris Carlson’s home run on Sunday marked the third straight game in which the Flying Tigers have homered and is their fifth homer in the last three games.
SB OR HR, NOT BOTH ... Lakeland has not hit a home run and stolen a base in the same game since June 22 and accomplished that feat just twice since June 14.
SWING AND A MISS - A BUNCH ... Lakeland starting pitchers combined to record 29 strikeouts in the four games at Sarasota while the bullpen chipped in nine more K’s as the staff recorded 38 whiffs in four games. Both parts came together on June 27 as newcomer Mauricio Robles recorded 10 K in 6.0 innings while Robbie Weinhardt (4) and Scott Green (2) helped Lakeland register 16 strikeouts in the game, the most in a nine-inning game for Lakeland since April 15, 2003 when Fernando Rodney mowed down 12 batters as Lakeland posted 16 K’s that evening. Last season, the Flying Tigers recorded 16 strikeouts in their 20-inning affair with Daytona on June 20 with the Cubs posted 19 strikeouts themselves.
SETTING THE TONE ... L.J. Gagnier set the tone for the strikeout performances by Lakeland by KO’ing 13 batters in complete game outing on June 25 working 8.0 innings in the Flying Tigers’ 1-0 loss to Sarasota. It was the most strikeouts by any one Lakeland pitcher this season and is his second double-digit strikeout game this season.
FLYING HIGH ... Justin Henry is 19x58 (.328) since June 10 ... Devin Thomas has a seven-game hit streak going and is 12x27 (.444) during that time with six runs batted in
NEW CREW MEMBERS ... Maiko Loyola made his Lakeland debut on June 27. Loyola stole 45 bases at Columbus (Tampa Bay A) last season and was named to the South Atlantic League All-Star squad. He was also named to the 2007 New York-Penn League All-Star game. He started the 2009 season playing for Lynchburg (Pittsburgh A) of the Carolina League ... Keith Hernandez joins Lakeland after playing four games at West Michigan, one game with the GCL Tigers and one game at Toledo this season .. Jared Gayhart was a 13th round pick of Detroit in 2008 out of Rice University and joins Lakeland from West Michigan where he was 5-3 with three saves and a 1.97 ERA.
CLOSE ONES ... The Flying Tiger’s 1-0 loss on June 25 at Sarasota was their 21st game this season decided by one-run with Lakeland posting an 8-13 record in those games.
ROUGH START TO THE WEEK ... Lakeland is a combined 6-11 on Mondays and Tuesdays and 5-5 in Wednesdays. The Flying Tigers have their best record of the week on Thursdays with a 9-5 mark.
CLOSING ON 100 WINS … Andy Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with an 98-108 record (67-70 in year one). In his rookie season as manager, he led Oneonta to a 44-32 record in the New York-Penn League in 2007.
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Views expressed in “Mission Notes” are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Lakeland Flying Tigers.
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