THE FLYING TIGERS (4-3, tied for second place) ... Lakeland busted out of its offensive slump in a big way on Wednesday knocking out 13 hits in downing Brevard 8-3 to sweep the three game series. Bryan Pounds lived up to his name by knocking out five base hits to become just the 11th Lakeland player in the last 15 years to collect five hits in a game. The outburst snapped an 0-15 start to the season by the Flying Tigers’ third baseman. Lakeland took game one of the series 2-0 behind the pitching of Charlie Furbush who struck out seven in 5-2/3 innings. Game two went down to the wire with Ben Guez doubling in a pair runs in the top of the eighth en route to a 3-2 win.
CLEARWATER (5-2, 1st place) ... The Threshers are coming off a 7-3 win over Tampa on Wednesday taking the series two games to one. Korby Mintken and Steve Susdorf each had three hits to pace the 12-hit Clearwater attack. Derrick Mitchell leads the club with a .417 average while Matt Rizzotti is hitting at a .409 clip. Mintken (.357) and Cody Overbeck (.346) are also carrying hot bats for the Threshers who are hitting .295 as a team.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...
THURSDAY (H) - Brayan Villarreal (0-1, 4.50) ... Villarreal took the loss against Tampa on April 10 despite striking out eight and walking none over four innings. Signed as a non-drafted free agent by Detroit in 2005, Lakeland is Villarreal’s sixth team over the last five seasons.
FRIDAY (A) - Adam Wilk (0-1, 4.50) ... Wilk took the loss on April 11 against Tampa matching Brayan Villarreal’s numbers with four hits allowed and two runs (both earned). An 11th round pick out of Cal State Long Beach (known as the “Dirtbags”), Wilk was the 2005 High School Division II player of the year.
SATURDAY (A) - Charlie Furbush (1-0, 0.00) ... Furbush tossed 5.2 shutout innings on April 12 at Brevard County to pick up the win. The Tiger’s fourth-round pick out of LSU in 2007, Furbush struck out seven and walked one while holding the Manatees to four hits. Last season, Furbush faced the Threshers on July 6 blanking Clearwater over six innings with five strikeouts and no walks while allowing four hits.
THE SERIES ... Clearwater held a 10-6 margin in the series played in 2009, including four of the last six meetings.
ROAD TRIP GOOD TO LAKELAND ... After scoring in just one of their first four games and posting a .129 team batting average, Lakeland swept Brevard County in a three-game series outscoing the Manatees, 13-5 and hitting .235 as a team. The pitching staff posted a 1.33 ERA in the series and held the Manatees to a .198 average at the plate.
SOLID BULLPEN WORK ... The Flying Tigers bullpen has allowed just one earned run in last 23.1 innings of work and only two runs in 27.1 innings all season.
BREAK OUT THE “K” CARDS ... Fans may want to start posting K’s on the bleacher railings as the Flying Tiger staff is averaging just over eight strikeouts per game. Starter Mark Sorenson leads all Detroit minor leaguers with 12 punch outs while Brayan Villarreal mowed down eight and Charlie Furbush rang up seven in their first starts of the season.
UNDER TWO ... A solid bullpen coupled with a strong starting rotation has enabled the Flying Tigers to post a very respectable 1.92 staff ERA – tops in the FSL. The staff has also struck out 57 batters so far which is second in league to the Clearwater staff’s total of 64 K’s. All this comes without the services of one Casey Crosby, Detroit’s 2009 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, who is currently on Lakeland’s disabled list.
FLYING HIGH ... Bryan Pounds is coming off a 5x5 game ... Rawley Bishop is 4x6 his last two games ... Alden Carrithers is 3x8 over the past two games.
WHERE FORTH ARE THOUGH, LONG BALL? ... Last season, Lakeland was fifth in the league with 70 homers. This year Andy Bouchie has the only round-tripper for the Flying Tigers. Bouchie’s shot is the only homer Lakeland fans have seen as the Lakeland pitching staff has yet to surrender a home run to any opposing player.
LINE-UP SEARCH ... Flying Tigers’ manager Andy Barkett is still tweaking his line-up and has used seven different batting orders in the first seven games of the season. The number six spot has seen the most new faces with six different players batting in that place in the order.
WHAT’S A GUY TO DO? ... Usually, making a league’s all-star team would earn a player a promotion. Clearwater’s Tim Kennelly (out of Perth, Australia) was named to both the 2009 mid-season and post-season FSL All-Star teams while Fidel Hernandez was a mid-FSL season all-star. Both players find themselves back in the FSL for an encore performance.
KEEP HIM OFF THE BASES ... Thresher outfielder Anthony Gose led all of the minor league baseball last season with 76 stolen bases.
HEY CUZ ... Clearwater’s D’Arby Myers is a cousin of the NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal.
FLYING TIGERS UP ON THE FARM ... Will Rhymes leads AAA Toledo with a .368 average (second among Detroit minor leaguers) while Brennan Boesch and Brent Dlugach are each hitting .345. ... Mike Gosse is tops in the organization with a .409 average at West Michigan.
ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS: Detroit (6-3, 1st) ... Toledo (3-4, tied for 2nd) ... Erie (0-7, last) ... Lakeland (4-3, tied for 2nd) ... West Michigan (3-4, tied for 5th)
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS ... Thursday’s game is Wing Ding with area restaurants competing in a wing contest starting at 6 p.m. ... The Tuesday, April 20th game will be an Education Day with the first pitch scheduled for 10:30 a.m ... The ZOOperstars will entertain the crowd on Saturday, April 24 with the Walk for Wishes and Fireworks also taking place.
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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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