Mission Notes at Tampa (Aug. 4-5)

THE FLYING TIGERS (17-18 2nd half, 46-54 overall) ... Lakeland dropped a heartbreaking 11-12 decision to St. Lucie in the series finale on Sunday. The Flying Tigers trailed 11-3 in that game before scoring eight times in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 11-all. St. Lucie won the game with one out in the bottom of the ninth. The Flying Tigers are eighth in the FSL with a .248 batting average and ninth with a 3.80 ERA.

TAMPA (24-10 2nd half, 54-47 overall) ... The Yankees are coming off an 8-7 loss to Jupiter on Sunday but still hold on to a two game lead over Brevard County in the North Division. Austin Romine leads the Florida State League with 62 RBI while Brandon Laird is fifth with 54 runs batted in. The Yankees rank third with a .261 team batting average and are fifth with a 3.57 team ERA.

HOME AND HOME SERIES .... This four-game set with Tampa begins with a pair of games in Tampa on Aug. 4-5 and then resumes with two games in Lakeland on August 6-7.

THE SERIES ... Tonight is the 15th time this season these two clubs have met. The two clubs split their season-opener four-game series with each club winning two in their home stadium. The squads met once again for a four-game series at the end of April with again ending in a 2-2 split. Lakeland then swept a doubleheader on May 21 while another two-games series on July 3-4 was yet once again a split decision.

VALANT RALLY FALLS SHORT ... Lakeland found itself down 11-3 heading into the ninth inning at St. Lucie on Sunday. Thirteen batters later, the Flying Tigers had tied the game with eight runs on five hits, a hit batter and two walks. Six of the runs came with two outs on the board. Justin Henry had a pair of singles in the frame to drive in three runs while Devin Thomas and Chris White singled. However, the Mets came back to win the game, 12-11.

BIG GAME NUMBERS ... St. Lucie collected 24 hits in the 12-11 Sunday contest, three shy of the Florida State League record. The two teams combined for 38 hits, the most for any game involving Lakeland since May 11, 2007 when Lakeland and Daytona each had 19 hits in a 17-inning contest won by the Tigers, 6-5. Incidentally, that game was tied 5-5 after five complete and then featured 11 consecutive scoreless innings before Cody Collet doubled in the go-ahead with two outs in the top of the 17th.

HENRY EQUALS HITS ... Justin Henry cranked out five singles in six at bats on Sunday at St. Lucie. It was the most hits for a Lakeland batter since Russ Cleveland went 5-for-5 against Vero Beach back on July 28, 2005. Henry’s feat marked just the fifth time this decade a Lakeland player has had five hits in a single game.

FLYING TIGERS IN FSL RANKINGS ... Chris Carlson remains tied for second in the FSL with 13 home runs along with Caleb Gindl of Brevard County and Carlos Guzman of St. Lucie. The trio trails Ft. Myers’ Chris Parmelee who has 14. Andrew Hess is ninth in the with a 3.25 ERA while L.J. Gagnier is fifth with 99 strikeouts.

NEWTON GOES YARD TWICE ... Jordan Newton homered twice on Thursday at St. Lucie, hitting a two-run shot in Lakeland’s five-run first inning and then adding another two-run shot in the eighth as the Flying Tigers posted an 8-5 win in the series opener. It was the second time this season a Flying Tiger has hit two homers in one game. Audy Ciriaco did the honors on May 16 in a 10-6 win over Brevard. His second shot was a walk-off grand slam giving him seven runs batted in for the game.

JACOBSON GETS ON SAVE WAGON ... Brett Jacobson has three saves his last three outings and has not allowed a run in his last seven innings pitched over five outings. He had just one save in his previous 28 appearances.

ONLY 16 LEFT ... Lakeland has just 16 scheduled dates left at home in 2009, including 10 scheduled dates in August. The season winds down with a rare six-game homestand in September.

NEWEST CREW MEMBERS ... Lakeland added a pair of pitchers recently in the form of Mark Sorenson and Gary Perinar. Sorenson, a 6’3” righthander comes to Lakeland from West Michigan where he was 8-2 with a 2.44 ERA. Detroit’s 32nd round pick in the 2008 draft out of Michigan State, he is the son of Lary Sorenson, the former Major Leaguer pitcher and Tiger broadcaster. Sorenson, who’s 2.44 ERA was ranked second among all Detroit minor league pitchers, would like to erase his first appearance in a Flying Tiger uniform as he allowed five earned runs on 10 hits in 3.1 innings pitched in a start at St. Lucie on Sunday. Perinar, a 6’0” righthander joins the Flying Tigers after going 2-2 with a 5.82 ERA at Oneonta. He was a 11th round pick of Detroit in 2007 out of the University of Minnesota. Perinar missed the entire 2008 season following right elbow surgery.

ROBLES TRADED ... Mauricio Robles was traded last Friday to Seattle along with ex-Lakelander Luke French for Mariner pitcher Jarrod Washburn. Robles was 4-2 for Lakeland and was leading all Detroit minor leaguers with a combined 111 strikeouts at Lakeland and West Michigan.

OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL MOVES ... In addition to Mauricio Robles and Luke French, several other ex-Lakeland players were involved in a recent flurry of organizational moves. Jay Sborz was played on the DL at Toledo while Luis Marte of Erie was also placed on the injured list as was Oneonta’s Jeff Gerbe. As mentioned in the last Mission Notes, Flying Tiger Billy Alvino was sent to the Gulf Coast League Tigers while the GCL club sent Gustavo Nunez to West Michigan.

THE COMMANDER … Andy Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with a 113-124 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.