THE FLYING TIGERS (12-17, 49-50) - Lakeland is coming off a four-game sweep of the Jupiter Hammerheads in which three of the four games were decided in Lakeland’s last at bat and the fourth was a 4-2 affair. The sweep has lifted the Flying Tigers out of last place and into fourth place, 1/2 game behind Dunedin. The four straight wins marked the first time this half that Lakeland has won back-to-back games. The Flying Tigers are third in the FSL with a .261 batting average and fourth with a 3.42 staff ERA.
THE MARAUDERS (16-13, 55-44) ... Bradenton, the newest team in the Florida State League, is an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Marauders are coming off a four-game split with Dunedin and are 3-5 in their last eight games. Bradenton is the highest-scoring team in the league averaging 4.83 runs per game and is fourth in the FSL with a .260 team batting average and sixth with a 3.65 staff ERA.
PROBABLE STARTERS ...
Tue: Mark Sorensen (5-11, 5.07 ERA, 71 K, 21 BB, 97.2 IP)
Wed: Adam Wilk (7-4, 2.91 ERA, 78 K, 14 BB, 117.1 IP)
Thu: Jon Kibler (2-4, 3.32 ERA, 28 K, 13 BB, 40.2 IP)
Fri: Jacob Turner (1-1, 5.61 ERA, 18 K, 8 BB, 25.2 IP)
THE SERIES ... The two clubs split their first four meetings on June 1-4 with Lakeland taking the bookend games and Bradenton winning the two middle games. The Flying Tigers won game one, 8-3, as five Lakeland players each had four hits. In game two, Lakeland led 6-2, but the Marauders rallied back for a 8-7 victory. Bradenton’s Jeremy Farrell clubbed a two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth of game three for a 6-5 win while in game four, Adam Wilk, Corey Hamilton and Lester Oliveros and combined for a three-hit shutout as the Flying Tigers won 3-0.
FSL LEADERS ... Bradenton’s Noah Krol leads the Florida State League with 23 saves while Quincy Latimore has driven in 71 runs - more than any other player in the league. Robbie Grossman has drawn more walks that anyone else and ranks third in the league with 58 runs scored.
WE KNOW WHO LURKS BEHIND THE MASK ... Bradenton catchers James Skelton and Jordan Newton each donned the “tools of ignorance” for Lakeland. Skelton, batting .254 for the Marauders, played in Lakeland in 2005 and 2008 while Newton, hitting .327 in 14 games, played for the Flying Tigers in 2009.
SEASON SERIES SWEEP ... The four-game sweep of Jupiter over the weekend gives Lakeland its first season series sweep of any team in at least the last 16 seasons.
TRIO EARNS TRIP TO ERIE ... Detroit promoted pitcher Ramon Garcia and infielders Billy Nowlin and Bryan Pounds to Erie on Monday and added outfielder Matt Mansilla and infielder Chris Sedon from Connecticut. Mansilla was the Tigers’ 22nd round pick in 2009 out of the College of Charleston and was hitting .130 with two homers in 17 games at Connecticut. Sedon was a 10th round selection in 2009 from the University of Pittsburgh where he was an All-American. He was hitting .333 in six games at Connecticut and also played 24 games at West Michigan this season.
SEVEN LEFT ... With the most recent promotions, only seven players that began the season on Lakeland’s 25-man roster remain with club - pitchers Erik Crichton, Luke Putkonen, Mark Sorensen and Adam Wilk, catcher John Murrian, shortstop Gustavo Nunez and outfielder Brent Wyatt.
CONSISTENCY ... Brandon Douglas has carried a hot bat for Lakeland since June 23, hitting .402 (39x97) that stretch. For the season, Douglas has 16 multi-hit games including 11 games with two hits and five with three hits.
CONSISTENCY II ... John Murrian is hitting .368 (25x68) in his last 19 games played with nine multi-hit games including seven games with two hits and two games with three hits.
SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE ... Lakeland’s pitching staff has issued the fewest walks in the Florida State League while Bradenton’s batters have drawn the most walks.
KEEP HIM IN THE LINE-UP ... In games Pat McKenna starts at second base, he is hitting .533 (8x15) with six runs scored. Coming off the bench, he is 0x3 and has scored one run as a pinch-runner.
ARM STRENGTH ... Jacob Turner has a 1.98 ERA with eight strikeouts and just three walks in his last three starts while Adam Wilk has a 1.38 ERA with 19 strikeouts and four walks in his last three starts. In addition, Jay Voss has not allowed a run or walked a batter in his last four relief appearances. The Lakeland bullpen has allowed just two runs in the last four games for a 1.38 ERA.
BATS AWAKENING ... Lakeland is hitting .258 as a team in its last nine games going 75x291 at the plate with 12 doubles, a triple and three home runs.
TWIN KILLINGS ... Lakeland has turned at least one double play in eight straight games including three in games against Fort Myers on July 20 and against Jupiter in game one of the July 24 doubleheader.
LAKELAND NORTH? ... Six former Lakeland players were in the starting line-up for the Detroit Tigers on Sunday in game one of the team’s doubleheader with Toronto. The alums included Jeff Larish (2006) at first, Ramon Santiago (2001) at second, Danny Worth (2007) at short, Scott Sizemore (2008) at third, Ryan Raburn (2002, 2004) in left and Brennan Boesch (2008) in right. In addition, Will Rhymes (2007) made a pinch-hit appearance and Robbie Weinhardt (2008, 2009) made a relief appearance.
ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS
Detroit - 51-46, 3rd in AL Central Division
Toledo - 51-51, 4th in West Division
Erie - 41-61 - 6th in Western Division
Lakeland - 12-17, 5th in North Division
West Michigan - 9-20, 8th in Eastern Division
Connecticut - 19-16, 2nd in Stedler Division
Gulf Coast - 14-16, 4th in North Division
Dominican - 14-27, 5th in San Pedro Division
Venezuelan - 19-37, 7th in VSL
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