Mission Notes vs Brevard County (June 23-25)

SERIES SCHEDULE ... All three games are 7:05 p.m. starts at Spacecoast Stadium in Viera. Thursday’s game will be broadcast live on cable’s Bright House Sports Network (BHSN). Check your local listings for the availability of BHSN. In Lakeland, the game can be seen on Bright House Networks, Channel 47. Thursday’s and Friday’s games can also be heard via the internet at gofnlr.com or 1300wmel.com. Saturday’s game will not be broadcast.

THE FLYING TIGERS (36-34, 5th 1st Half, 10.0 GB) ... Lakeland closed out the first half with a 6-3 loss at Daytona, spoiling a shot at a third series sweep of the Cubs this season. The Flying Tigers finish in fifth place in the first half standings in the North Division, 10.0 games out of first place behind the first-half champion Daytona Cubs. Lakeland is sixth in the FSL with a .263 team batting average and fifth with a 3.83 staff earned run average. Flying Tiger pitchers have walked the second fewest batters in the league and also hit the second fewest batters in the FSL. Lakeland is tied with Clearwater with a .962 fielding percentage – best in the league.

THE MANATEES (27-42, 6th 1st Half, 19.0 GB) ... Brevard County also closed out the first half with a loss, falling 6-5 to Dunedin. Brock Kjeldgaard sits atop the Florida State League with 18 homers a .590 slugging percentage while Khris Davis is seventh with a .320 average and fourth with a .416 on-base percentage. The Manatees are eighth in the FSL with a .263 team batting average while the pitching staff has the highest ERA in the league with a 4.68 mark. Brevard County has the second worst fielding percentage at .968 committing the second most errors in the league with 82.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...

• Thursday (6/23) - Trevor Feeney (5-6, 4.36 ERA) worked 6.0 innings in a non-decision on June 15 against Tampa holding the Yankees to three runs on six hits. On June 10, he tossed seven scoreless innings against Daytona and has a 2-1 record and a 2.57 ERA over his last four starts with 15 strikeouts and five walks. Opponents are batting .291 against Feeney.
• Friday (6/24) - Cole Nelson (3-9, 5.17 ERA) has dropped his last three starts with a 6.32 earned run average in those outings. He has struck out 15 and walked six while surrendering 21 hits. In his last start, Nelson held Tampa to three runs, two earned, on five hits in 6.0 innings pitched. Lefties are batting .322 against Nelson while righties are hitting .303 against the lefty.
• Saturday (6/25) - Jared Wesson (0-1, 6.23 ERA) worked 6.1 innings in his last start on June 20 against Daytona and got the win, holding the Cubs to one run, despite walking six batters. He is 5-1 in his last seven starts with a 2.57 ERA. Wesson began the season allowing 17 earned runs in four starts and has allowedonly 20 earned runs in his last 10 starts. Righthanded batters are hitting .291 against Wesson, but he is holding lefties to a .193 mark.

THIS SEASON ... The Manatees hold a slim 5-4 margin in the series this season and took two out of three in the last meetings on June 11-13. The Flying Tigers won their last contest by a 13-6 tally. Lakeland is hitting .292 in the series with Wade Gaynor and Avisail Garcia leading the way. Gaynor carries a .382 average with six doubles in the nine games while Garcia is batting .351 with six runs batted in. Brock Kjeldgaard has the hot bat for the Manatees with a .447 average, two homers and 12 RBI while Khris Davis has a .367 mark with two homers and 11 RBI.

JONES EXTENDS HIT STREAK TO 17 ... Corey Jones singled in his first at bat on Wednesday to extend his hit streak to 17 games – the longest streak in the Florida State League this season. During the streak, Jones is 27-for-70 (.386) with 10 runs scored. The streak is Lakeland’s longest since Kody Kaiser collected hits in 21 consecutive games from May 15-June, 2010.

NUNEZ FINALLY GETS HIS SHOT ... Gustavo Nunez has finally earned a promotion to AA Erie and was sent north on June 20. Nunez led the 2010 squad with 116 hits and was named to the Florida State League Midseason All-Star Team. This season, he was again leading the team with 79 hits and was a repeat selection to the FSL All-Star squad.

NEWEST CREW MEMBER ... Taking Nunez’s spot on the roster is infielder C.J. Retherford who comes to Lakeland from AA Erie where was hitting .176 in six games this season. Originally signed as a free agent by the Chicago White Sox in 2007, Retherford advanced to AAA, but was released just prior to the start of the 2011 season. He signed with the Atlanta Braves’ organization and played in 41 games at AA Mississippi before joining the Tiger’s system on June 14.

BERGOLLA MOVES IN ... Taking Nunez’s defensive spot at shortstop is William Bergolla, a veteran of 10 previous seasons in the minors and one season in the majors. Bergolla made it to the big leagues in 2005, playing in 17 games for the Cincinnati Reds. Orginally signing with the Reds as a free agent in 1999, Bergolla was released in 2008 and remained out of baseball until joining the Tigers’ system this season.

BERGOLLA’S BAT ... William Bergolla maybe taking Nunez’s bat as well as his position with 12 hits in his last 24 at bats for a .500 clip over six straight games. He has driven in five runs while collecting two doubles and a homer.

WYATT EARPED ... Brent Wyatt was held in check in two at bats on Wednesday to see his 11-game hit streak snapped. During the steak, Wyatt was 14-for-42 for a .452 average with 14 runs scored.

SITUATIONAL FLYING TIGERS ... Lakeland’s top hitter with runners on base is Brent Wyatt who has a .317 average in that situation. Tony Plagman has a team-best .321 batting average with runners in scoring position while Wyatt climbs back atop the situational ladder carrying a .412 mark with two outs and runners in scoring position.

LAKELAND IN THE FSL ... Jared Wesson continues to remain in a three-way tie for the league lead with eight wins while Kenny Faulk is third with 18 saves in 19 situations. Brent Wyatt maintains his lead with a .443 on-base percentage while Tony Plagman remains third with 52 runs batted in. Jordan Lennerton and Brent Wyatt are third and fifth with 50 and 43 walks, respectively. Tyler Stohr is tied for second with seven holds.

TEAM LEADERS ... Brent Wyatt leads with a .308 batting average, 37 runs scored, and 11 times hit by a pitch. Jordan Lennerton has a team-leading eight doubles. Tony Plagman leads with 52 runs batted in and 10 home runs in the first half of the season (in comparsion, Jordan Lennerton and Billy Nowlin each hit nine homers for the entire 2010 campaign to lead the team). Cole Nelson has struck out a team-high 60 batters while Trevor Feeney has worked a team-high 86.2 innings. Feeney, Nelson and Jared Wesson have each started a team-high 14 games.

A LOOK AHEAD ... Break out the sunglasses and sunscreen as the Flying Tigers’ next home series features two day games. Game one of a three-game series against Clearwater is on a Sunday afternoon at 1:00 while game three is the Flying Tigers’ annual Parks & Recreation Department Day with a 10:30 a.m. start on Tuesday. Sandwiched in between is a normal 7:00 p.m. start time on Monday.