THE FLYING TIGERS (29-30, 66-63) - Lakeland is coming off a doubleheader split at Dunedin on Thursday. The Blue Jays took game one 3-2 in eight innings while Lakeland took the night cap 3-0 as Shawn Tuefel (making his first start for Lakeland), Michael Torrealba and Dan Gentzler combined on a two-hit shutout. Luke Putkonen is 10th in the FSL with a 3.43 ERA while recently promoted Adam Wilk is fourth with a 3.01 mark. Lakeland is batting .257 as a team while leading the league drawing a total of 452 walks. On the other side, Flying Tiger pitchers have issued the fewest walks in the league with 286 on the year. Defensively, Lakeland is tops with a .978 fielding percentage and has turned 127 double plays, the second highest total in the FSL. Gustavo Nunez continues to rank as the top fielding shortstop in the league with a .960 mark and also leads in total chances, putouts, assists and double plays.
THE CUBS (36-23, 70-59) ... The Cubs were rained out last night Daytona finished 7.0 games back in the first half and were 15-21 at home. This half they are in the pennant race, just 2.5 games behind Tampa. A big change this half is the fact that the Cubs are 21-9 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The Cubs, which have the second highest average in the league at .264, have three of the top ten batters in the Florida State League in D.J. LeMahieu (3rd, .315); Ryan Flaherty (7th, .288) and Rebel Ridling (9th, .286). LeMehieu leads the FSL with 162 hits while Ridling is tops with 34 doubles and fourth with 71 RBI. Flaaherty is right behind Ridling with 32 two-baggers. Daytona is also the second highest scoring team with 578 runs this season while second in team doubles (238) and triples (23), but stolen bases are not a part of their repertoire as the team is second to last with just 87.
THE SERIES ... The Cubs hold a slim 6-5 lead in the series with wins in four of the last six. The two Lakeland wins in that span came in the last three games. In their last meeting on June 22, the two clubs split a doubleheader in Lakeland with the Cubs taking game one by a 2-1 margin and the Flying Tigers taking the nightcap by a 6-4 score.
WHO’S ON THE MOUND? … With promotions to AA, rain outs and doubleheaders, Lakeland has used eight different starting pitchers in the last eight contests.
YOU AGAIN ... The Cubs and the Flying Tigers are scheduled for six games in the next nine days. In addition to this series, Lakeland will host Daytona in a season-ending series at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland on Sept. 3-5. Sandwiched inbetween is a three-game set with Dunedin.
TWO MAN WRECKING CREW ... In last night’s second game of the doubleheader, Lakeland won 3-0 and had four hits. All of the offense came from a new 1-2 combination in the line-up as Pat McKenna batted lead-off, followed by Francisco Martinez. Both players doubled and singled for the four hits while McKenna scored twice and Martinez scored the other run. McKenna also swiped a pair of bases.
SEASON ATTENDANCE MARK TO FALL ... With six home games left, Lakeland needs to average just over 134 fans per game to set the all-time franchise single season attendance record. With 60,449 passing thru the gates so far, Lakeland is 806 fans away from the record of 61,255 set in 1987. Lakeland is averaging 1,061 fans per game in 2010 and has increased attendance in every season under General Manager Zach Burek. How much increase? In his inaugural season, Lakeland drew 495 fans per contest. This year’s figure is a 114 percent increase since that first season.
LENNERTON MAKING A BID ... With a .309 average, Jordan Lennerton is making a bid to become the first Lakeland batter with 175 or more at bats to hit .300 since James Skelton batted .307 in 212 at bats in 2008. Should Lennerton continue his pace, his average would be the best since Juan Francia hit .325 over 255 at bats in 2005.
SPEEDY CLUB ... With a stolen base in game one of the Wednesday doubleheader at Dunedin, Gustavo Nunez has 30 stolen bases for the season. He becomes the first Flying Tiger to swipe 30 bases since Ovandy Suero stole a team-record 75 bases in 2007 and just the ninth Lakeland player since 2000 to steal 30 bases in a season.
DUAL PARTIES? ... Lakeland will close out the season on Sept. 5 at home with a rare Sunday morning game at 11:00. Perhaps the Flying Tigers can end the season on a winning note as a birthday present for skipper Andy Barkett who will turn 36 on Sunday.
DON’T WE PLAY NINE? ... Lakeland has played just three nine-inning games since Aug. 15. The squad has been involved in four doubleheaders and had two games to extra innings.
LATEST MOVING AND GROOVING ... Two more original Lakeland Flying Tigers have earned promotions to AA Erie as pitchers Adam Wilk and Eric Crichton head North. In addition, Jon Kibler has also received a ticket to ride to Erie. Taking their places on the roster are Cole Nelson, Bruce Rondon and Jeff Barfield. Nelson was a 10th round pick by the Tigers in this year’s draft out of Auburn University. He was 1-0 with a 0.59 ERA and 27 punch outs in 15.1 innings over seven games with the GCL Tigers. A fellow hurler from the GCL squad, Rondon signed with Detroit as an undrafted free agent in 2007 and played two seasons in the Venezuelan Summer League and was in his second season in the Gulf Coast League. This season, Rondon was 0-0 with a 0.70 ERA in 24 games with 26 strikeouts in 25.2 innings pitched. Barfield originally came to Lakeland on Aug. 21 and pitched in one game for the Flying Tigers, taking the loss in a start against Tampa on Aug. 22. He was sent back to the GCL on Aug. 25 and brought right back on Aug. 26.
1/3 OF A STARTING LINE-UP LEFT ... With the most recent promotions, just three players that began the season on Lakeland’s 25-man roster remain with club - shortstop Gustavo Nunez and pitchers Luke Putkonen and Mark Sorensen.
WILK ERIE DEBUT ANYTHING BUT EERIE ... Adam Wilk made his AA debut on Aug. 25, working eight shutout innings and holding Altoona to just one hit while striking out three in a 3-1 win. Fellow Lakeland alums helped out in the cause as Lester Oliveros picked up the save and Billy Nowlin drove in a pair of runs and scored twice.
ENOUGH FOR THEIR OWN LEAGUE ... Lakeland has had 62 players don a Flying Tigers uniform so far in 2010. Thirty-two players have taken the field on defense with 30 others taking the mound. The number tops the 60 that dressed out last season with two more defensive players taking the field. The 1968 squad holds the franchise record with a total of 69 players dressing out for Lakeland. The most stable team for Lakeland came in 1990 when only 35 players comprised the combined roster for that season.
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