Mission Notes vs. Daytona (May 3-5)

THE FLYING TIGERS (11-12, fourth place, 4.0 GB) ... Lakeland was swept in three games over the weekend by Dunedin. The Flying Tigers hit .252 for the series, but stranded 10 runners in each of the three games. Rawley Bishop led the team with five hits over the weekend while Alden Carrithers had four hits. Starting pitching was victimized for a 4.50 ERA in the series, but struck out 21 batters over 28.0 innings. The three losses give Lakeland seven defeats in the last 10 games. The Flying Tigers are batting .245 as a team and have a 2.96 team ERA.

DAYTONA (8-16, sixth place 7.5 GB) ... Daytona has dropped five in a row and 10 of its last 13 games. The Cubs are led by Brett Jackson who is hitting .301 on the season. Marwin Gonzalez is close behind at .292 while Josh Vitters carries a .278 average. Daytona has a .240 team batting average and a 3.98 team ERA.

THE SERIES ... Lakeland took two out of three in Daytona on April 27-29. Daytona took the opener 3-1 despite a 3-hit complete game performance by Brayan Villarreal. The Flying Tigers won game two as Bryan Pounds drove in a pair of run in the top of the ninth for a 5-3 win. Lakeland then took the rubber match, 4-3 as Rawley Bishop had two hits including a homer to drive in three runs and Gustavo Nunez collected three hits. Lakeland ranks ninth in the FSL with a .245 team average while Daytona is 10th at .240.

LAKELAND PROBABLE PITCHERS:

MONDAY: Adam Wilk (1-1, 4.50) ... Making his first home start since facing Tampa on April 11 ... has worked into the 7th inning in each of his last two starts (including season-long 6.2 IP on April 22 vs. Clearwater), but has not factored into the decision ... 11th round pick in 2009 out of Cal State Long Beach (“The Dirtbags”) ... was 4-1 with a 1.97 combined at West Michigan and Oneonta last season.

TUESDAY: Charlie Furbush (2-1, 2.10) ... Worked a season-high 6.0 innings in his last start on April 29 at Daytona ... has struck out seven or more batters in each of his four starts including eight in his last outing ... has an 0.77 ERA in his first and last starts sandwiched around a 9.00 in two other starts ... six of his 11 runs allowed have come in the fourth inning ... was 6-7 with a 3.96 ERA last season in Lakeland ... 4th round pick in 2007 out of LSU.

WEDNESDAY: Luke Putkonen (2-2, 2.70) ... Making his fourth straight start at home ... worked a season-high 7.0 innings in last start against Dunedin on April 30 ... left April 24 start in the second inning with injury ... one-third of his runs allowed have come in the third inning ... was 7-8 with a 3.13 ERA at West Michigan in 2009 ... 3rd round pick in 2007 out of North Carolina.

LAKELAND INSIDE THE FLORIDA STATE LEAGUE ... Rawley Bishop is fifth with a .338 average and a .432 on-base percentage ... Brayan Villarreal leads the league with 36 strikeouts and owns one of four complete games thrown in the league this season. His opponents batting average of .190 is second best in the FSL ... Lakeland ranks second with a .296 staff ERA and has allowed just 44 walks, fewest of any FSL team. The staff has allowed 66 earned runs, second fewest in the league.

NEW CREW MEMBERS ... Welcome to the new and welcome back to the old. The Flying Tigers welcome catcher Julio Rodriguez who joins the club from Extended Spring Training to fill a roster spot vacated by John Murrian’s placement on the DL (knee). Lakeland welcomes back Lester Oliveros from the DL (bicep soreness) who takes the spot opened when Austin Wood went on the DL (shoulder) for the second time this season.

FLYING HIGH ... Rawley Bishop has a five-game hit streak (9x21, .428) with two hits in four of the last five games. Bishop now has 10 games with two or more hits in the last 17 games ... Alden Carrithers has hits in each of his last four games and is 11x28 (.393) in his last seven games ... Gustavo Nunez has hits in each of his last four games (6x16, .375) and is 19x64 (.297) since April 15 after starting the season 2x23 ... Chao-Ting Tang is 3x7 (.429) his last two games ... Josh Workman is 5x10 (.500) his last three games after starting the season hitless ... Brent Wyatt had his seven-game hit streak snapped on Sunday, but is still 11x31 (.355) since April 23.

THE ARMS ... Erik Crichton has five scoreless outings in his last six appearances out of the bullpen ... Charlie Furbush has struck out seven or more in each of his four starts ... Michael Morrison has allowed two hits and no runs or walks in his three appearances since joining Lakeland on April 25 ... Lester Oliveros had five saves in his five previous appearances before going on the disabled list on April 21. He returned with a shutout inning pitched against Dunedin on May 1 ... Anthony Shawler has not allowed a run in this last six innings over two appearances ... Rob Waite worked 4.0 shutout innings on May 1 - his longest outing in two seasons with Lakeland.

IN THE ORGANIZATION ... Brennan Boesch hit a grand slam for Detroit on April 30 and is 7x26 with four doubles and the HR ... Scott Sizemore is hitting .265 for Detroit ... Brent Dlugach has a .270 mark for Toledo with a team-leading 11 runs batted in ... Will Rhymes is hitting .348 while Deik Scram is hitting .296 for the Mud Hens ... Alfredo Figaro is 3-1 with a 2.76 ERA for Toledo ... Shawn Roof and Audy Ciriaco are leading Erie with .297 and .292 averages, respectively, while Wilkin Ramirez is third with a .291 mark ... L.J. Gagnier is 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA in five starts for the Sea Wolves.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS:

• Monday - $1 Hot Dogs; Check The Ledger for 2-for-1 game ticket offer
• Tuesday - Education Day #1 (10:30 a.m. start); Kraft Singles (Buy one ticket, get one ticker free with package wrapper
• Wednesday - All-You-Can-Eat ($10 includes ticket)