Mission Notes vs. Bradenton (May 22-25)

SERIES SCHEDULE ... All four games will be played at Joker Marchant Stadium with Sunday’s game getting underway at 1 pm and the other three on Monday-Wednesday at 7 pm. Fans can listen to all the action via the Bradenton Marauders web page.

THE FLYING TIGERS (21-22, 4th-North, 10.0 GB) ... Lakeland dropped a 4-2 decision to Jupiter last night as the Hammerheads take the series three games to one. With the loss, the Flying Tigers are 5-5 in their last ten games. Lakeland has dropped to 11th with a .254 team batting average while the staff ERA of 3.85 ranks seventh.

THE MARAUDERS (18-25, 4th-South, 8.0 GB) ... Bradenton will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak that saw them fall 6-4 to Dunedin last night. The Marauders are 13-11 at home, but just 5-14 on the road. David Rubinstein and Elevys Gonzalez are eighth and ninth in the FSL in hitting with averages of .333 and .326, respectively while Aaron Baker is tied for second in the league with 35 RBI. Robbie Grossman leads the league with 38 runs scored – six more than the second player. Bradenton is tied for third in the league with a .269 team batting average and is eighth with a 4.18 staff earned run average.

LAKELAND PROBABLE PITCHERS:

• Sunday (5/22) - Jared Wesson (4-3, 5.44) has made two scoreless appearances for two wins in his last three starts working a brilliant 8.0 scoreless innings on May 6 allowing just two hits to Tampa and then scattering five hits on May 17 against Charlotte blanking the Stone Crabs for 6.1 innings. Unfortunately, in between, he gave up five runs on six hits in 4.2 innings in a loss to St. Lucie on May 12.
• Monday (5/23) - Trevor Feeney (3-4, 4.47) has dropped four of his last five starts, winning once on May 9 against Tampa during that span. In his last start on May 14, he held Tampa to four runs over 6.0 innings in taking the loss. He has worked 7.0 innings in each of his last three starts and has a 3.00 ERA in those three games. Feeney is 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA at home this season.
• Tuesday (5/24) - Jay Voss (2-0, 3.71) struck out six in 6.0 innings in his last start on May 15 against Charlotte but allowed five runs - four earned on eight hits in the no-decision. Voss began the season in the bullpen but moved to the starting rotation with the injury to Drew Smyly and has started his last five appearances. He has recorded 15 strikeouts and just one walk in his last 21 innings over four starts.
• Wednesday (5/25) - Cole Nelson (2-4, 4.57) held Jupiter to three runs on six hits and six strikeouts in his last start on May 21 in taking the loss. He is 1-4 in his last five starts with a 3.70 ERA in his last four starts, all in May, after posting a 5.40 ERA in April.

LAST SEASON … The two clubs split their four games played in 2010, the Marauders’ first season in the Florida State League. Neither club had an advantage on the home turf as the two clubs also split their series at each other’s ballparks. Lakeland batted .263 in the series with a 5.04 ERA while Bradenton batted .273 with a 4.04 mark on the mound. The two Marauder catchers last season were ex-Flying Tigers, Jordan Newton and James Skelton.

TOO BAD THIS ISN’T VEGAS ... 7-7-7 in some venues is lucky, but not for the Flying Tigers who have had seven hits in each of the last three games and are 1-2 in those games.

PRATT INJURED BY LINE DRIVE ... Jordan Pratt was hit in the head with a line drive off the bat of Jaime Ortiz in Thursday’s game and was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center via ambulance after a 23 minute delay. Flying Tiger GM Zach Burek confirmed that Pratt suffered a concussion and that the doctors optimistic about his prognosis.

HEY, BRO ... Detroit promoted Kevan Hess from the Connecticut roster to take Jordan Pratt’s place on the roster. Hess was a 14th round pick in 2009 by Detroit out of Western Michigan University. He was 2-1 last season with stops in Connecticut and West Michigan. If you think the name sounds familiar, you are correct as Kevan’s brother, Andrew, played for Lakeland in 2009.

HOME, (NOT) SWEET HOME ... Lakeland is 10-10 in home games averaging exactly 4.0 runs per game. On the road, the squad is 11-12 with an average of 4.74 runs scored per game. The Flying Tigers are also hitting over 20 points better on road with a .264 mark away from Marchant Stadium and a .242 average at JMS.

WHERE THE THIEVES? ... Lakeland has not stolen a base in the last eight games and have swiped just two bags in the last 17 games.

BIG CROWDS SCARE US ... The Flying Tigers set an all-time attendance record last season, which might not be a good thing year as the team is 3-5 in 2011 when crowds exceed 1,000 fans.

DREADNAUGHT RETURNS TO LAKELAND ... Bradenton outfielder Evan Chambers is a 2007 graduate of Lakeland High School. Originally drafted out of high school by the Colorado Rockies, Chambers opted to play for the University of Florida and then transferred to Hillsborough Community College. He was a third-round pick by the Pirates in the 2009 draft out of HCC.

TIGER LEGACY ... The Marauder’s Nathan Baker has ties to the Tigers’ organization as his grandfather, Chuck Daniel was a pitcher for seven seasons in the Detroit organization from 1953-1960. He pitched in one game for the big club on September 21, 1957, working 2.1 innings.

LET’S (ALMOST) PLAY TWO ... The AA Erie SeaWolves were involved in a marathon game on Thursday, falling 9-6 to Trenton in 16 innings that took 4:44 to play. Erie jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first thanks to a three-run homer by Rawley Bishop. By the end of the third inning, the SeaWolves clung to a 5-3 lead, but the Thunder roared back with a two-run homer by Bradley Suttle off L.J. Gagnier to knot the score at 5-all. Neither team would score again over the next nine innings until Trenton pushed across a run in the top of the 15th. In the bottom of the frame, Brandon Douglas singled to score Shawn Roof to tie the game once again. Unfortunately, the was the end of the SeaWolves luck as Trenton scored three times in the top of the 16th for the win. As long as that game was, it doesn’t come close to topping Lakeland’s longest game, a 20-inning affair with Daytona on June 29, 2008 that the Flying Tigers emerged with a 3-2 win after six hours and six minutes of baseball.