THE FLYING TIGERS (18-17) - Lakeland’s 2-1 loss to Tampa in 11 innings on Saturday snapped a four-game winning streak by the Flying Tigers. The 11 innings marked Lakeland’s longest game of the year and was just the second extra inning affair this season for the team. The Flying Tigers continue to lead the FSL with a 2.61 team ERA (the only team under 3.00) and have walked the fewest batters in the league. Lakeland is hitting .249 as a team and is second in the Florida State League with a .979 fielding percentage.
THE HAMMERHEADS (13-22) - Jupiter is hitting just .218 as a team while Emilio Ontiveros and Ben Lasater are leading the club with .275 and .273 averages, respectively. The Hammerheads are tied for second in the league with 42 stolen bases, thanks in large part to Kevin Mattison who leads the league with 20 thefts. The staff ERA of 3.90 ranks 10th in the FSL.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS:
SUNDAY - LUKE PUTKONEN (2-2, 3.09) ... Putkonen won his last start, tossing six shutout innings against Charlotte on May 11. He walked three in that game and also struck out three while allowing three hits. His longest outing came in a no-decistion on April 30 as he worked 7.0 innings allowing one run on six hits. Putkonen is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two road starts while 2-1 with a 2.36 ERA in five home starts.
MONDAY - MARK SORENSEN (3-3, 3.79) ... Sorensen won his last start with his longest outing of the season (7.0 innings) on May 12 against Charlotte. He struck out five in that game to give him 13 strikeouts in his last two starts and allowed just one run while scattering five hits. Eight of his 15 earned runs this season came in back-to-back games. He is 0-2 with a 5.17 ERA in three road starts and 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA in four home starts.
TUESDAY - BRAYAN VILLARREAL ... Villarreal has won his last two starts, including his last game on May 13 against Charlotte. He opened the season striking out 26 batters in his first three games, and has mowed down five in each of his last two appearances. Villarreal tossed a complete game on April 27 against Daytona, but took the loss despite allowing just three hits and striking out six. He is 1-2 with a 3.50 ERA on the road and 3-1 with a 2.53 ERA at home and his opponents .200 batting average is second best in the Florida State League.
WEDNESDAY - ADAM WILK ... Wilk has now won his last two starts after going 0-2 with three no-decisions in his first five starts. In his last start, he tossed his longest game with 7.0 innings againt Tampa on May 14, allowing four hits. Wilk struck out 10 batters in his first five starts, but has 14 in his last two. He is 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA on the road and 0-1 with a 3.27 at home.
BISHOP TIED FOR LEAGUE BATTING LEAD ... Thanks to a 2x5 effort in last night’s game, Rawley Bishop has now moved into a tie for first place with Clearwater’s Matt Rizzotti with each batter hitting .358 on the season. Bishop is also tied for the league lead with 44 hits along with two other players. His .553 slugging percentage is second in the league while his 12 doubles in third best. With seven hits in his last three games, Alden Carrithers is now fourth in the league with a .350 mark while leading the league with a .449 on-base percentage.
GAME TIME SHUFFLE ... Each of Lakeland’s four games in Jupiter will start at different times. Sunday’s game is slated for a 5:05 p.m. start with Monday taking place at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday games for Jupiter now start at 6:35 p.m. with Thursday’s game being a morning affair at 10:35.
FURBUSH RETAKES STRIKEOUT LEAD ... With nine more strikeouts on Saturday, Charlie Furbush now tops the Florida State League with 58 K’s on the season. Furbush has struck out 22 in his last two games and at least seven in each of his seven starts.
CLOSER BY COMMITTEE ... With save leader Lester Oliveros on the disabled list, the closer role has been by committee. Lakeland has had seven saves since April 29 with five different pitchers taking the honors including Miguel Mejia who picked up the save in Thursday night’s 4-2 win over Charlotte.
ALRIGHT ALDEN ... Second baseman Alden Carrithers moved into the lead-off spot on May 13 and has been 7x13 (.538) since making the move. He was 3x3 in his first game and has two hits in each of the last two games. The two hits in last night’s game makes him 13x25 (.520) the last seven games.
MULTI-BISHOP ... Rawley Bishop is 9x25 (.360) his last five games with two or more hits in four of those starts. For the season he leads the team with 17 multi-hit games, Alden Carrithers is next with 12 while Kody Kaiser has 10 multi-hit games.
KUDOS TO KAISER ... Kody Kaiser has hits in nine of his last ten games and 22 of his last 26 games.
POUNDS TAKING OFF ... Bryan Pounds has two hits in each of the last two games and is 6x16 (.375) his last four games and 10x34 (.294) since May 7. On April 14, he has one of those games where everything dropped in, going 5x5 against Brevard County.
THE MAGIC OF JULIO ... The Flying Tigers are a perfect 6-0 in games in which Julio Rodriguez starts behind the plate. He has four hits on the season - two of them for home runs.
ORGANIZATIONAL NOTES ... Rawley Bishop leads all Detroit minor leaguers with his .356 average with Alden Carrithers, and Brent Wyatt right behind with .351 and .308 averages, respectively. Brayan Villarreal is fourth with a 2.97 ERA with Adam Wilk (6th, 3.02), Luke Putkonen (7th, 3.09) and Charlie Furbush (10th, 3.49) all ranking in the top ten.
HAMMERHEAD HITS ... Jonathan Fulton was a third round pick of the Marlins in the 2003 draft out of high school. After five seasons as an infielder, he made the move to the mound in 2008.
FORMER FLYING TIGER STARS IN NO-HITTER ... Former Lakeland pitcher Andrew Miller tossed six no-hit innings as the Hammerheads recorded a no-hitter on May 6 at Palm Beach. Miller, who played for Lakeland in 2006, was on a re-hab assignment from the Marlins. Detroit’s first-round pick in 2006, struck out six and walked six in the no-hit effort.
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