Mission Notes vs. Jupiter (May 18-21)

SERIES SCHEDULE ... All four games will be played at Joker Marchant Stadium with the first three games starting at 7 pm while the Saturday game is slated for 6 pm.

THE FLYING TIGERS (20-19, 4th-North, 7.0 GB) ... Lakeland took three of four from Charlotte on the road including the last three and has now won four of the last five and six of the last nine. The Flying Tigers are batting .258 as a team to rank 8th while the staff ERA of 3.88 is 7th in the league.

THE HAMMERHEADS (19-20, 4th-South, 7.0 GB) ... Jupiter will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak that saw the club drop three of four to Dunedin, including being shutout 5-0 last night. Kyle Jensen is tied for the FSL lead with 11 homers and 34 RBI and is fifth in the FSL with a .350 average while Jose Alvarez is 10th in the league with a 2.60 ERA. Jupiter is ninth in the FSL with a .256 team batting average and fourth with a 3.53 staff ERA. The Hammerheads are an affiliate of the Florida Marlins.

LAKELAND PROBABLE PITCHERS:

• Wednesday (5/18) - Victor Larez (3-3, 4.78) gave up five runs – three earned – on eight hits in 5.0 innings against St. Lucie in his last start on May 13. He has allowed 17 earned runs in his last five starts for a 6.20 ERA after allowing just three runs in his first two starts combined.
• Thursday (5/19) - Trevor Feeney (3-4, 4.47) will be looking to break out of a slump that has seen him drop four of his last four decisions. He has worked 7.0 innings in each of his last three starts with a 3.00 ERA, 14 strikeouts and just two walks, but is 1-2. At home he has a 2-1 record and a 3.00 ERA.
• Friday (5/20) - Jay Voss (2-0, 3.71) allowed five runs – four earned – on eight hits in 6.0 innings in his last start on May 15 at Charlotte. In his last four starts he is 2-0 with a 4.29 ERA and 15 strikeouts and just one walk. He has a 5.06 ERA in three day games and 2.81 in four night games.
• Saturday (5/21) - Cole Nelson (2-4, 4.57) gave up a pair of runs on five hits over 6.2 innings in his last start on May 16 at Charlotte, snapping a three-game losing streak. Nelson posted a 5.40 ERA in April, but has dropped that mark to 3.44 in May.

LAST SEASON … Lakeland swept the season series last year winning all eight games outscoring the Hammerheads, 51-26 and batting .306 in the series. It was the first season swept by Lakeland over any Florida State League in at least 16 seasons. Daniel Fields drove in eight runs in the series while Kody Kaiser went 11-for-19 (.579) with seven RBI in just four games. In 2009, Lakeland had won just two of the eight games.

LAKELAND POWER COMPANY ... Lakeland has hit nine homers in the last four games. The Flying Tigers clubbed four homers in a 6-5 win over Charlotte on Sunday with all six runs coming via the long ball. Daniel Fields slugged a three-run homer while Tony Plagman, Ryan Soares, and Avisail Garcia each his solo homers. It was the first time the Flying Tigers had hit four homers in one game since Chris Carlson, Devin Thomas, Michael Bertram and Audy Ciriaco, each went deep on July 5, 2009 at Clearwater. Two nights later, the Flying Tigers would again have a multi-homer game, hitting three in a 10-1 win as Garcia, Plagman and Jordan Lennerton each went deep. Garcia and Plagman have each had two homers in the last three games.

ON A TEAR ... Ryan Soars is making the most of his playing time as of late and had homered in three consecutive games on May 14 at St. Lucie and May 15 and 16 at Charlotte. It was the first time since that a Flying Tiger has gone deep in three straight games since August 16-18, 2010 when Jordan Lennerton accomplished the feat. The longest stretch of homering in consecutive games in recent history is Ryan Strieby’s amazing streak of six straight games on July 19-23 during his record-setting season of 29 homers in 2008.

HEY TONY, PRETEND IT’S A ROAD GAME ... First baseman Tony Plagman leads Lakeland with seven homers on the season, all but one coming on the road. In contrast, last year’s team leaders, Jordan Lennerton and Billy Nowlin each led the club with just nine homers all season. As one might expect in the cavernous Joker Marchant Stadium, only eight of Lakeland’s 26 homers this season have come at home.

EIGHT GAME STREAK ... Daniel Fields brings an eight-game hit streak into this series going 12-for-32 (.375) with nine runs batted in, three doubles, a triple and a home run.

DOUBLED UP ... Of Michael Rockett’s 15 hits since April 28, six have been doubles and one was a triple.

KUNKEL OUTBURST ... Jeff Kunkel has five hits in eight at bats in his last two games with a triple and four runs scored.

JAMES, WE HARDLY KNEW YA ... Detroit promoted Brent Wyatt to Erie on Sunday and assigned James Meador from the GCL Tigers’ roster. The duo switched back to the original team spots on Tuesday with Wyatt rejoining Lakeland and Meador heading back to the Connecticut roster. Wyatt brings back a mini-hit streak going 7-for-16 (.438) over the last five games.

EASTERN LEAGUE HONOR ... Congratulations to former Flying Tiger Justin Henry who was named the Eastern League Player of the Week for the week of May 9-15. In seven games for Erie, Henry was 13-for-28 (.464) with one double, one triple and five runs scored.

FIRST ROUNDER ... Jupiter’s Chad James was the Marlins’ first-round pick (18th selection overall) in 2009 out of Yukon High School in Oklahoma where he was 8-2 with a 1.28 ERA as a senior.

COLLEGE TEAMMATES ... Jupiter’s Sergio Pedroza played collegiately in 2005 at Cal State Fullerton, same university as Flying Tiger player Corey Jones and Michael Morrison.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS ... Wednesday is All-You-Can-Eat with Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grill as the featured restaurant. Thursday is $1 beer and soda night and a Lakeland Chamber of Commerce mixer. The first 350 adult fans at Friday’s game will get a free Camp Flying Tiger’s t-shirt courtesy of Team Hammer. It is also Royal Rangers Night. The homestand is capped on Saturday with A Night of Hope which will benefit Hope Hospice. It’s also Armed Forces Celebration Night with veterans receiving free admission with a Fireworks Extravanga after the game.