THE FLYING TIGERS (6-14, 44-47) - On Saturday, Lakeland jumped out to a three-run lead in the first inning and went on to defeat Palm Beach 6-2 in front of 2,725 fans. Brandon Douglas went 4x5 to lead an 11-hit attack while Gustavo Nunez, Daniel Fields and Francisco Martinez each had two hits. The Flying Tigers have struggled at the plate as of late, hitting just .219 in their last six games with 15 runs scored. Lakeland is now 6-7 in its last 13 games, but is still looking for its first back-to-back victories of the second half. Lakeland continues to rank fourth in the league with a .262 team batting average. The pitching staff ranks third with a 3.40 ERA and has walked the fewest batters (186 – just over two walks per game) of any team in the league.
THE MIRACLE (10-11, 38-53) ... Fort Myers has hit six home runs and scored 16 runs in its last two games. On Saturday, Nate Hanson hit his second three-run homer in a series against Daytona to power the Miracle to a seven-run fifth inning in a 9-4 win. The Miracle are 6-2 in their last eight games. Fort Myers has a .248 team batting average which is the third lowest average in the FSL while their staff of 4.00 is the second highest in the league.
PROBABLE STARTERS ...
Sun: Jon Kibler (2-3, 3.49 ERA, 21 K, 9 BB, 28.1 IP)
Mon: Jacob Turner (0-1, 6.88 ERA, 11 K, 5 BB, 17.0 IP)
Tue: Luke Putkonen (6-5, 3.64 ERA, 59 K, 29 BB, 94.0 IP)
Wed: Brayan Villarreal (7-4, 3.47 ERA, 90 K, 23 BB, 85.2 IP)
THE SERIES ... The two clubs split a four-game series played June 5-8 in Lakeland. The Flying Tigers took games 1 and 4 while the Miracle took the two middle games. In game one, Kody Kaiser went 3x5 with two doubles to extend his hit streak to 21 games and lead the Flying Tigers to an 8-3 win. Unfortunately, the next night Kaiser’s streak came to an end as Fort Myers won out by a 2-0 score. Liam Hendricks and Billy Bullock combined to shutout Lakeland on eight hits in that game. Game three was much of the same as Daniel Osterbrock pitched seven shutout innings in a 5-1 win. The tide turned in game four as Lakeland scored seven times in the third inning in a 9-1 victory. Kaiser, Daniel Fields and Francisco Martinez combined for eight hits and six RBI in game four.
FIRST ROUNDER ... Shooter Hunt doesn’t just have one of coolest names in the Florida State League, he has the distinction of being the Twins’ first round pick (31st overall) in the 2008 draft.
STILL HANGING IN THERE .. Although they haven’t played this half, Alden Carrithers and Kody Kaiser are still atop the league in batting average. Carrithers leads the FSL with a .359 mark while Kaiser is second with a .325 average. Rawley Bishop is also in the top ten with a .301 average - good for seventh place. Eventually, the trio will not have the minimum plate appearances (2.7 PA per game) to qualify for the rankings. Charlie Furbush is still among the leaders in ERA (3.39) and strikeouts (109).
THEY ARE HERE ... Pitchers Adam Wilk and Brayan Villarreal are with the team and they rank fourth and ninth, respectively, in the league in terms of earned run average. Wilk has a 2.94 ERA to go with his 7-4 record while Villarreal, also 7-4, has a 3.47 earned run average. Wilk continues to lead the Florida State League with 110.1 innings pitched and a 0.98 walks per nine innings. He is also second with 9.95 baserunners allowed per nine innings. Villarreal ranks fifth with a .232 opponents’ batting average.
SO CLOSE ... Francisco Martinez belted a home run in the fourth inning on Saturday for his second homer of the season. In the sixth inning it looked like he may have his second four-bagger of the game, but Jared Bogany had a different opinion leaping high to rob Martinez before crashing into the wall. Bogany held on the ball and Martinez was denied.
ACTIVE LAKELAND TEAM LEADERS ... Brandon Douglas has the highest average on the Flying Tigers with a .337 mark, but has only played in 29 of Lakeland’s 91 games. (Bryan Holaday is hitting .423, but has played in just seven games.) Jordan Lennerton is the only other player hitting .300 or better with a .304 average in his 14 games. Among those with more than 120 at bats, Francisco Martinez has the best average at .294 while John Murrian is next with a .281 average. Billy Nowlin leads with nine homers – eight on the road – and 42 runs batted in. Gustavo Nunez is tops with 16 stolen bases while Daniel Fields has a team-best 10 doubles and is tied with Nunez for the team lead with four triples. Adam Wilk and Brayan Villarreal are tied with seven wins to top the team while Wilk’s 2.94 ERA is best among the active starters for Lakeland. Villarreal has struck out 90 batters, best for any Lakeland pitcher (Charlie Furbush’s 109 strikeouts is the most for any Flying Tiger pitcher this year.)
NO STAGE FRIGHT ... With a 6-2 win over Palm Beach on Sunday in front of a home crowd of 2,725, Lakeland improves to 7-3 when playing to a crowd of 2,000 or more this season. Last season, the team was 3-1 in the same situation for a two year mark of 10-4 in front of crowds in excess of 2,000.
LOW SCORING AFFAIR? ... Fans expecting to see some scoring fireworks over the next four days may be disappointed as Lakeland is 4.19 runs per game – eighth in the league – and Fort Myers is scoring 3.63 runs per game – second fewest in the league.
UP ON THE FARM ... Here’s a look at how some of this year’s former Lakeland players are doing throughout the Detroit organization. At Erie, Rawley Bishop is hitting .264 with three homers and 16 RBI. Alden Carrithers (.192) and Kody Kaiser (.182) are still looking to recapture the magic that had them leading the FSL in hitting before they were promoted. Andy Bouchie is batting .204, but has seven homers. Charlie Furbush is 1-0 with a 2.30 ERA and 28 strikeouts while Anthony Shawler is 1-1 with a 3.61 ERA. Ramon Garcia. At Toledo, Ben Guez has a combined .269 mark with a pair of homers in his two stints in Triple-A.
ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS
Detroit - 48-40, 2nd in AL Central Division
Toledo - 45-49, 4th in West Division
Erie - 38-56 - 6th in Western Division
Lakeland - 7-14, 6th in North Division
West Michigan - 7-15, 8th in Eastern Division
Connecticut - 15-14, 2nd in Stedler Division
Gulf Coast - 12-12, T-3rd in North Division
Dominican - 12-25, 5th in San Pedro Division
Venezuelan - 18-32, 7th in VSL
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