THE FLYING TIGERS (39-42, 2-9, 6.5 GB) - Lakeland dropped its first doubleheader of the season, falling 5-3 and 6-1 to Dunedin on Tuesday to drop to 39-42 overall and 2-9 in the second half. The Flying Tigers collected 17 hits in the two games, but stranded 19 runners. The lone bright spot was the bat of Brandon Douglas who was a combined 6x8 in the twin-bill with a double and triple thrown in. Lakeland is batting .263, good for fourth in the FSL, and has a team ERA of 3.32 which is the third best in the league. The Flying Tigers played error-less ball in the two games and continue to lead the FSL (along with Clearwater) with a .977 fielding percentage
THE THRESHERS (43-40, 6-7, 3.5) ... Clearwater comes to Joker Marchant Stadium after dropping a three-game set at Daytona with the Threshers being outscored 19-4 in the three games. Jesus Sanchez, who should open the series, is second in the FSL with a 2.67 ERA to go with his 7-4 record while closer Justin De Fratus, is third in the league with 15 saves (three in the series vs. Lakeland). Anthony Gose tops the FSL with 28 stolen bases and 10 triples, and is second with 55 runs scored and third with 91 hits. Clearwater is tied with Lakeland for the FSL lead with a .977 fielding percentage.
PROBABLE STARTERS ... Wed: LAK-Luke Putkonen (6-5, 3.80)vs. CLR-Jesus Sanchez (7-4, 2.67); Thu: LAK-Brayan Villarreal (7-3, 3.25) vs. CLR-Jon Velasquez (2-6, 2.61); Fri: LAK-Adam Wilk (5-4, 3.11) vs. CLR-Heitor Correa (5-8, 5.27).
THE SERIES ... Lakeland will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak to the Threshers including a three-game sweep last weekend in Clearwater. Christopher Kissock, a college teammate of Lakeland’s Brent Wyatt, recorded two of the three wins last weekend while Justin De Fratus has recorded three saves in the series. Brayan Villarreal has Lakeland’s two wins back in April as Clearwater holds a 2-7 advantage this season.
MOTHER OF ALL STREAKS ... Clearwater’s Harold Garcia singled in his first at bat on July 4 against Daytona to extend his hit-streak to a Florida State League record 37 games, eclipsing the old mark of 36 set by Joe Altobelli of the Daytona Beach Islanders in 1951 (Altobelli went on to manage the Baltimore Orioles to the 1982 World Series championship). Unfortunately, Garcia’s streak stopped at 37 as he went hitless in his next game. In the 37 games, Garcia batted .354 with 12 doubles, two triples and three homers with 20 runs scored and 30 runs batted in.
DOUGLAS ON FIRE ... Brandon Douglas collected six hits in yesterday’s doubleheader and now is 22-for-44 in his last 11 games dating back to June 23 for a even .500 average. He has three doubles and three triples with eight runs scored and four driven in during the 11-game span. He has had multiple hits in each of his last four games and is 11x18 (.611). For the season Douglas has nine games with two or more hits including four with three hits.
THE LAKELAND SHUFFLE ... Detroit made a couple of moves involving the Flying Tigers in the last two days as Samir Rijo and Pat McKenna were sent to the Gulf Coast League team and Ben Guez and Carmelo Jaime returned after stints in Erie. Guez was hitting .357 for the Seawolves while Jaime played in just one game and was hitless in two at bats.
EXPLOSIVE FOURTH ... Lakeland jumped the fun on the postgame fireworks by scoring 14 runs on 17 hits (15 of them singles) on the Fourth of July in its 14-0 win over Dunedin. The Flying Tigers batted around in the second and fifth innings and just missed the feat again in the seventh sending seven men to the plate, scoring four times in each of those frames. The 14 runs was the second most scored this season by the Flying Tigers, topped only by a 15-3 win over Jupiter on May 17. The 17 hits was second to the 19 collected in the same Jupiter game. The 14-run margin of victory was the largest since beating Sarasota 17-3 on April 15, 2008. By the way, the largest margin of victory in recent times for Lakeland came in 21-0 thrashing of Kissimmee in 1996.
INDIVIDUAL FIREWORKS ... Jordan Lennerton, playing in just his eighth game for Lakeland, led the 17-hit attack on July 4th with four hits. He becomes just the fourth Flying Tiger to have four or more hits in a game this season joining Alden Carrithers, Kody Kaiser and Bryan Pounds. Pounds collected five hits on April 14 at Brevard County to become the first of six players in the FSL this season to have five hits in a game. Alexander Moreno and Patrick McKenna, both making their first starts for Lakeland, each had three hits while Brandon Douglas and John Murrian each had two hits as eight of the nine starters had at least one hit. Murrian drove in three runs with his second homer in as many games while Brent Wyatt also plated a trio of Flying Tigers. Douglas, Moreno and Lennerton each drove in a pair of runs for Lakeland.
LOST IN THE SHUFFLE ... With all the offense in the July 4th game, it may be easy to overlook the fine pitching performances by Adam Wilk and Tyler Conn. Wilk, the FSL leader in innings pitched, tossed seven shutout innings, holding the first-half champion Blue Jays to four hits with nine strikeouts. Conn worked the last two innings, retiring all six batters he faced on five ground outs and a pop fly.
FURBUSH PICKS UP FIRST WIN ... Charlie Furbush picked up his first win at Erie on Tuesday working 7.0 innings allowing two runs on four hits while striking out 11 against Bowie. Furbush got some offensive support from his ex-Lakeland teammates as Deik Scram hit a grand slam, Bryan Pounds hit two solo homers and Rawley Bishop added two hits.
SANZ & SANZ ... It may sound a law firm, but the battery for West Michigan on Monday was Sanz and Sanz. Former Flying Tiger Luis Alberto Sanz started behind the plate while his brother, Luis Angel Sanz, got the starting nod on the mound for the Whitecaps.
ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS
Detroit - 43-36, 1st in AL Central Division
Toledo - 42-44, 3rd in West Division
Erie - 34-51 - 6th in Western Division
Lakeland - 2-9, 6th in North Division
West Michigan - 3-9, T-7th in Eastern Division
Connecticut - 11-8, 2nd in Stedler Division
Gulf Coast - 6-7, 4th in North Division
Dominican - 11-19, 4th in San Pedro Division
Venezuelan - 15-25, 7th in VSL
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