THE FLYING TIGERS ... Lakeland enters the series at Brevard County with a 6-8 record in the second half following a doubleheader split at Dunedin on Friday. The Flying Tigers won the opener, 3-0, as Mauricio Robles worked six scoreless innings and Scott Green tossed a perfect seventh. Lakeland dropped game two, 2-1, as C.J. Ebarb connected on a walk-off homer for the Blue Jays. Overall, Lakeland is 35-44 on the season. The Flying Tigers are tied with Charlotte with a .247 batting average, which is eighth best in the Florida State League. The team ERA of 3.58 ranks fifth in the league.
BREVARD COUNTY ... Brevard County, winners of the first half of the North Division, are vying for a second half title and lead the North by 1/2 game over Dunedin. The Miracle were rained out Friday, but are 8-2 in the last ten games and winners of four straight. Brevard County is second in the league with a .264 average and has the best staff ERA in the FSL with a 2.68 mark, joining Ft. Myers as the only other club in the FSL with ERAs under 3.00 on the season. Evan Anundsen, who tossed a no-hitter earlier this season, is second in the FSL with a 1.99 ERA to go with his 7-4 record. Robert Wooten leads the league with 18 saves.
THE SERIES ... The Flying Tigers have faced the Manatees eight times this season, but have managed just two victories so far. Lakeland has batted .230 in the series with a 3.22 ERA while Brevard County has hit .380 in the eight games with a 2.35 team ERA. Lakeland has two homers in the series - both by Audy Ciriaco in the same game, including a walk-off grand slam in a 10-6 win on May 16 in Lakeland.
ROLLIN’ ROBLES ... Mauricio Robles has not been scored upon in his last two starts working 12.1 innings and scattering eight hits with nine strikeouts and five walks.
STEADY STARTERS ... The Flying Tiger starting pitching staff has a 1.61 ERA over the last ten games, allowing just nine earned runs in 50.1 innings pitched. The starters have struck out 28 and walked 10 over the 10 games. Starter L.J. Gagnier is third in the FSL with 79 strikeouts.
BULLISH PEN ... Meanwhile, the Lakeland bullpen has exhibited some nice control walking just four batters in their last 17 appearances while striking out 41 batters. Scott Green has not walked a batter in his last seven outings while Jared Gayhart has yet to walk a batter in four appearances as a Flying Tiger. Brett Jacobson has issued just one base on balls in his last eight appearances out of the bullpen.
BACK IN THE GROOVE ... Scott Green leads Lakeland with eight saves and has two saves in his last two appearances. Prior to that, Green had entered the game in a save opportunity just once in his previous 11 appearances.
CAN’T STEAL FIRST ... Lakeland did not draw a walk in the second game of the Dunedin doubleheader on Friday night, marking the eighth time this season the Flying Tigers failed to draw a free pass to first base.
THE NEW GUY ... Lakeland’s newest Flying Tiger, catcher Billy Alvino, has at least one base hit in each of his three games played so far and is 4x10 at the plate.
HENRY HIT STREAK ... Justin Henry enters the Brevard County series with an eight-game hitting streak in which he is 11x31 (.355) with three doubles and four runs batted in. Henry is batting .324 (24x74) with six doubles and nine runs batted in since June 17.
NEWTON MINI-STREAK ... Jordan Newton has collected a base hit in each of his last five games and is 6x18 (.333) in those games. He has hits in 14 of his last 20 games.
THOMAS TRIP ... Devin Thomas is hitting .328 (19x58) with four doubles, two home runs and eight runs batted in since June 24.
TUCKER TIME ... Joe Tucker is 8x14 (.571) his last four games and is batting .363 (16x44) since June 17 with three doubles and three runs batted in.
HIT STREAK SNAPPED ... Michael Bertram had his six-game hit streak snapped in game two of Friday’s doubleheader. During the streak, Bertram was 8x21 (.381) with two doubles, two home runs and seven runs batted in. He leads Lakeland with 16 doubles and 38 runs batted in. Bertram is second on the squad with nine homers and is third with 65 base hits. Lakeland is 6-3 in games in which Bertram homers.
HOMER HAPPY ... Chris Carlson homered in three straight games from July 4-6 and is tied for the FSL lead with 12 homers along with Mike Stanton of Jupiter. Carlson also had driven in runs in four straight games (six total) from July 4-9. His 12 homers leads Lakeland, but he is fourth on the team with 24 RBI as eight of his homers have been solo shots and the other four came with just one man on base. Lakeland is 9-3 in games in which Carlson hits a home run. He has double-digit homers in each of his four pro seasons and a total of 43 round-trippers for his career.
CIRIACO SIDETRACKED ... Audy Ciriaco was hitting .360 (31x86) with five doubles, three homers and 10 RBI entering the Dunedin series, but was held without a hit in two games played. Ciriaco has two of Lakeland’s three grand slams this season, but his other five homers have been solo homers.
ANOTHER CLOSE ONE ... The Flying Tigers lost the second game of their doubleheader on Friday at Dunedin by a 2-1 score and are now 9-15 in one-run games. The doubleheader was Lakeland’s eighth of the season and the team has one sweep, been swept three times and split four others.
THE COMMANDER … Andy Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with a 102-114 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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