THE FLYING TIGERS (28-18) - It took a while for Lakeland to get in gear in its last game. Trailing 2-1, the Flying Tigers scored four times in the seventh and two more in the eighth to record a 7-2 win over Tampa. It was Lakeland’s 16th win in the last 19 contests. Thanks to a little help from Clearwater, the Flying Tigers are now just 1/2 game behind division-leading Dunedin. Lakeland is now third in the league with a .267 average. The Flying Tigers’ staff ERA of 2.69 is best in the FSL.
THE CARDINALS (24-21) ... The Cardinals are tied for second in the South Division with Charlotte, 3-1/2 games behind the new kids on the block, the Bradenton Marauders. Palm Beach has won their last two games after dropping five in a row. The 10 runs scored in their last game was more than the club had scored in their previous six games combined.
LAKELAND’s PROBABLE STARTERS ... Thu: Mark Sorensen (4-4, 3.86); Fri: Brayan Villarreal (5-3, 3.40); Sat: Adam Wilk (3-2, 3.64); Sun: Charlie Furbush (3-3, 2.73).
WYATT NAMED FSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK ... Brent Wyatt has been honored as the Florida State League Player of the Week for the week May 17-23. Wyatt batted .484 for the week with 15 hits and 11 runs scored. The former Lewis-Clark State College athlete drove in eight runs last week with two doubles, a triple and a homer. He also walked six times and posted a .579 on base percentage. Wyatt beat out fellow Flying Tigers Kody Kaiser (.467, 14 hits, 12 RBI) and Alden Carrithers (.452, 14 hits). He is the first Lakeland player to be named FSL Player of the Week since Andy Dirks took the award for the week May 4-10, 2009. Charlie Furbush was the FSL Pitcher of the Week last season for the week July 27-Aug. 2.
TOP BATS IN THE FSL ... Flying Tiger teammates Alden Carrithers and Rawley Bishop rank first and second, respectively, in the Florida State League in terms of batting average. Carrithers leads the FSL with a .361 mark while Bishop is hitting .350. In addition, Kody Kaiser is fifth at .335 and Brent Wyatt is seventh with a .333 mark.
OTHER FSL LEADERS ... In addition to leading the league in hitting, Alden Carrithers is tops with .466 on base percentage and second with 29 walks. Rawley Bishop is second in the FSL with 31 runs scored, 34 RBI and 15 doubles, third with 57 hits, 86 total bases and a .528 on base percentage, and fourth with 20 extra base hits. Kody Kaiser is second in the FSL with five triples.
ARMS GOOD AS WELL ... Luke Putkonen is eighth in the FSL with a 2.70 ERA while Charlie Furbush is 10th with a 2.73 ERA.
STAYING ON THE HILL ... The starting pitchers have been pitching to such a level that they are staying in the game for more innings. Entering this series, Lakeland has three of the top four pitchers in terms of innings pitched in Luke Putkonen (56.2), Charlie Furbush (56.0) and Adam Wilk (54.1).
DOWN SOUTH ... After taking three of their four games against St. Lucie earlier this week, the Flying Tigers own a 10-2 record against teams from the South Division. Earlier, Lakeland swept Jupiter and took three of four from Charlotte.
A DOZEN FOR KODY ... Kody Kaiser enters Thursday’s game with a 12-game hit streak in which he is hitting .490 (25x51) with three doubles, two triples a homer and 19 RBI. His 25 hits is the most for any minor league hitter since May 15 while his .490 average and 19 runs batted is second most. He has also walked six times and stole three bases in his last 12 games.
10 GAMES OVER .500 ... At 28-18, the Flying Tigers are 10 games above .500 in the standings. The last time the club was ten or more games over .500 this late in the season was in 2005 when that club was 32-14 thru 46 games. The 2005 Tigers lost to Palm Beach Cardinals three games to two in the Florida State League championship.
THE FURBUSH PHENOMENA ... With 44 strikeouts in his last four games, Charlie Furbush now has 80 strikeouts on the season - more than any other minor league pitcher. He leads the FSL by 15 K’s over Clearwater’s Austin Hyatt. His walks/hits per nine innings (WHIP) is the league’s lowest at 0.93 while his .203 opponents batting average is also best in the league. His 12.86 strikeouts per nine innings is second highest in the FSL. The 80 strikeouts is 13 fewer than Furbush had in 24 games last season. In his last four games he has walked just two batters and had issued just ten free passes all year in 56.0 innings (and one of those was an intentional walk).
ALL OR NOTHING .. Brent Wyatt has gotten hits in seven of last ten games. In each of those seven games, he has had two hits or more, including four games with three hits. In the other three games, he has been held hitless.
NO CONTROL ISSUES ... Lakeland has recorded 366 strikeouts this season while walking 86 batters in 412.0 innings pitched. The Flying Tigers have reached double digits in strikeouts in 13 games this season and have yet to walk more than four batters in one game. Eight times this season they have not issued a free pass. In addition to leading the FSL in ERA, the staff also has walked the fewest batters (86), tossed the fewest wild pitches (9) and hit the fewest batters (15).
KEEP HIM BACK THERE ... Lakeland is a perfect 15-0 in games in which Julio Rodriguez is the starting catcher.
DE-FENSE ... The Flying Tigers continue to lead the league in fielding percentage (.980) while first baseman Rawley Bishop, second baseman Alden Carrithers and shortstop Gustavo Nunez all lead the FSL at their respective positions. In addition, there have been no errors charged to any of the Lakeland outfielders.
HEY THERE, TEAMMATE ... Lakeland’s Charlie Furbush and Palm Beach’s Jared Bradford were two-thirds of Louisiana State’s starting pitching staff in 2007. Bradford was 10-4 while Furbush was 3-9. Furbush was a fourth round pick of Detroit in 2007 while Bradford was a 18th round pick by St. Louis in 2008. Former Flying Tiger Nolan Cain was also on that 2007 LSU team as a short reliever.
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