THE FLYING TIGERS (8-7, fourth place, 1.5 GB) ... Lakeland pitchers combined to strike out a season-high 14 batters last night, but a five-run fifth inning by Clearwater was too big a hole to climb out of as the Flying Tigers fell 8-4 to the Threshers. The loss drops Lakeland into fourth place, 1-1/2 games behind the #1 Threshers and 1/2 game behind Tampa and Dunedin, which are tied for second. The Flying Tigers are batting .217 on the season and rank third in the FSL with a 2.77 team ERA. The staff’s 126 strikeouts is second only to Clearwater’s 128.
TAMPA (9-7, tied for 2nd place) ... The Yankees downed Daytona, 11-3, last night to stand at 9-7 and move into a tie with Dunedin for second place. Pitchers Hector Noesi and Adam Warren are each tied for fourth in the league with identical 1.06 earned run averages. Tampa has a 3.11 team ERA and a .245 team batting average. Walter Ibarra is 7x16 (.438) his last four games.
LAKELAND PROBABLE PITCHERS:
TONIGHT: Luke Putkonen (1-1, 3.68) ... took the loss in the season opener on April 8 against Tampa lasting 3.2 innings and allowing three runs on six hits ... struck out six and walked one while holding Brevard to one earned run on a pair of hits on April 18 in his last start ... The six strikeouts doubled his season total ... opponents are batting .208 against Putkonen ... third round pick in 2007 out of the University of North Carolina.
SUNDAY: Mark Sorensen (2-0, 1.65) ... went 6.0 innings in last start on April 20 vs. Brevard County ... allowed six hits but limited the Manatees to two runs (one earned) with three strikeouts and zero walks ... tossed five shutout innings in first start on April 9 against Tampa with five strikeouts and five hits allowed ... 32nd round pick in 2008 out of Michigan State ... son of former Major League pitcher Lary Sorensen.
THE SERIES ... Each of the first four meetings resulted in shutouts, unfortunately, Tampa posted shutouts in three of those game. Lakeland’s shutout was a 6-0 affair with Chris White (4x12), Ben Guez (3x11), and Brent Wyatt (3x7) accounted for 10 of Lakeland’s 15 hits in the series. Lakeland batted .129 in the four games while posting a 2.38 ERA ... Abraham Almonte and Jose Pirela each had six hits for the Yankees in the four games leading Tampa to a .256 team batting average. The three shutouts helped the Yankees post a 1.29 ERA in the first four games.
LEADING OFF ... Kody Kaiser has two or more hits in five games this season, the most multi-hit games by any Lakeland batter. Lakeland is 3-2 since Kaiser took over the lead-off spot on April 18 with Kaiser batting .318 (7x22) in the lead-off slot. He is 7x15 (.467) his last three games.
FLYING HIGH ... With two more hits last night, Rawley Bishop now has hits in six straight games and eight of his last nine with five multi-hit games. He is hitting .448 (13x29) during the streak ... Daniel Fields is 5x14 (.357) his last four games since going 0x3 in his Lakeland debut on April 17. Fields also has stolen three bases in the last two games ... Gustavo Nunez is .355 (11x31) his last eight games ... Chris White has hits in eight of his 12 games played ... Brent Wyatt is batting .316 with 12 hits in 38 at bats, but nine of those hits came in four multi-hit games.
THE ARMS ... Erik Crichton has not allowed a run in three in his last three appearances to drop his ERA from 7.71 to 3.18 ... Ramon Garcia has yet to allow a run, despite surrendering seven hits in his five appearances while striking out nine ... Matt Hoffman’s homer allowed on Thursday was his first run given up in five games this season ... Lester Oliveros was 5-for-5 in five games in save opportunities before going on the 7-day DL ... Luke Putkonen struck out six in his last start to double his strikeout total this season ... Anthony Shawler gave up his first run in five appearances on April 21 ... Mark Sorensen has 15 strikeouts and just two walks in 16.1 innings in his three starts. He has the best ERA in the organization with a 1.65 mark ... Brayan Villarreal struck out nine on April 21, the second consecutive game with nine K’s and third in three starts with eight or more.
FORMER FLYING TIGERS UP ON THE FARM ... Brennan Boesch was promoted to Detroit on April 23 as Carlos Guillen went on the 15-Day disabled list ... Erie’s Trevor Feeney struck out eight in eight innings last night in a 3-1 loss to South Bend.
ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS:
Detroit (9-8, 2nd place, 4-6 last ten games)
Toledo (9-7, 2nd place, 6-4 last ten games)
Erie (5-10, last place, 5-5 last ten games)
Lakeland (8-7, 4th place, 6-4 last ten games)
West Michigan (6-10, 7th place, 4-6 last ten games)
BLASTS FROM THE PAST ... Many ex-Flying Tigers are extending their pro careers in independent baseball leagues, including: Chad Linder, who has signed with the Shreveport-Bossier Captains of the American Association; Several ex-Lakelanders have signed with Atlantic League teams: Randy Leek is in his fourth season while is in his third year with the Long Island Ducks; Nook Logan, who is back in baseball after taking a year off, now plays for the Newark Bears; Kody Kirkland is with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs; Jordan Newton is with the New Jersey Jackals and Alex Trezza is with the Worcester Tornadoes of the Can-Am League; Justin Justice is with the Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks while Chris Homer pitches for the Lake County Fielders in the Northern League.
THAT’S A LOTTA BASEBALL ... Kannapolis downed Rome 3-2 in a 20-inning contest on April 20 in the South Atlantic League. The score was tied 2-2 in the 7th and stayed that way until Kannapolis scored with two out in the top of the 20th. The two teams left a combined 23 runners on base and used a total of ten pitchers. The game took just 4:41 to play compared to the 6:06 it took for Lakeland to defeat Daytona in 20 innings back on 6/29/08.
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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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