Mission Notes vs. Clearwater (July 2-3)

SERIES SCHEDULE ... Both games of this mini-series will be played at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater. Saturday’s game is at 6:30 p.m. while Sunday’s start is at 6:00 p.m.

THE FLYING TIGERS (39-38, 3-4, T-3rd, 2.0 GB) ... Lakeland has split its last six games, alternating wins and losses. The team is coming off a three-game set at Dunedin in which they were shutout twice in the three games. In the last game on Friday, Dunedin jumped on Lakeland starter Cole Nelson for five runs in two-thirds on an inning. The Flying Tigers are sixth in the Florida State League with a .260 team batting average while their staff ERA of 3.76 is fifth best.

THE THRESHERS (42-36, 3-6, 6th, 3.0 GB) ... Like Lakeland, Clearwater was shutout in its last game as well, losing 8-0 to Brevard County. The Threshers, who were 16 games above .500 on June 6, have lost 15 of their last 20 games. Pitcher Julio Rodriguez is tied, along with three others, including Lakeland’s Jared Wesson, for the league lead with eight wins, while opponents are heading a league-low .198 against him. Fellow pitcher Jonathan Pettibone is 7-5 with a 2.91 ERA which ranks ninth in the league while Trevor May has struck out a FSL-high 108 batters – 16 more than the second place total. First baseman Darin Ruf has a league-leading 25 doubles. Clearwater has the best team ERA in the league at 3.36 and is fifth in the FSL with a .266 team batting average.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...

• Saturday (7/02) - Jared Wesson (8-5, 4.48 ERA) was tagged for a season-high 11 hits in his last start on June 27 against the Threshers at home. Clearwater scored four runs off Wesson as the lefty struck out three and walked three. Wesson has had an up and down season, going 1-2 with a 9.98 ERA in April and then turning in a stellar 5-1 mark with an impressive 2.52 ERA in May, but fell to 2-2 with a 4.23 number in June. Righthanded batters are hitting almost 100 points better than lefties with a .304 average verus a .207 mark.
• Sunday (7/03) - Drew Smyly (4-2, 2.77 ERA) worked 6.0 innings and struck out eight with one walk in holding Clearwater to one run on five hits in his last start on June 28. He began the season 0-2 with a 3.97 ERA and is 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA since June 3. Twice in his last four starts he has worked 7.0 scoreless innings. Smyly has struck out eight batters in each of his last two starts allowing just one earned run on eight hits with one walk. In four home starts, he is 3-1 with a 3.70 ERA, but is 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA in five road starts.

THIS SEASON ... These two squads have faced each other nine times in the past with the Threshers taking six of the nine games. Lakeland took two of the last three games played last week on June 26-28 in Lakeland. Julio Rodriguez has a .458 average (11-for-24) in seven games of the series while Avisail Garcia has a .359 (14-for-39) in nine games. The Flying Tigers have a .274 team batting average in the series while the Threshers are batting at a .288 clip. The two teams have identical staff ERAs of 3.36 over the nine games.

HOT AND COLD BATS ... The Flying Tigers collected 12 hits in in a 7-1 win against the Threshers on June 28. The next night in Dunedin Lakeland was shutout, 5-0 on four hits. Rebounding on June 30, the Flying Tigers had 11 hits in a 5-1 win. The bats went cold in their last game, getting shutout once again, 4-0, on three hits.

WHAT’S IN STOHR ... Pitcher Tyler Stohr has earned a promotion to AA Erie. Stohr was 1-0 with a 3.45 ERA in 24 relief appearances for Lakeland with 23 strikeouts and eight walks in 31.1 innings.

NEW MAN IS NEWMAN ... Taking Stohr’s roster spot is Nate Newman who was 1-0 with one save and a 4.20 ERA with 12 strikeouts and four walks in 15.0 innings pitched at West Michigan.

THE INCREDIBLE FAULK ... Kenny Faulk is 19 for 20 in save opportunities this season and has not allowed a run in his last five appearances and just four runs (all in one outing) since May 25. His 19 saves is already tied for sixth most ever by a Lakeland pitcher (the franchise record is 29 set by Chris Homer in 2005). The 19 saves is already 10 more than last year’s co-leaders, Lester Oliveros and Jared Gaynor, who each had nine saves.

LITTLE ERA ... Matt Little was touched for one run on July 1 at Dunedin. It was the first run allowed since May 5 for the Flying Tigers (he spent most of June at West Michigan) and now has a 1.08 ERA in his last six appearances out of the bullpen.

BE LIKE MIKE ... Michael Morrison has not allowed a run in his last 10.1 innngs over nine appearances on four hits with 11 strikeouts and four walks. He has been scored upon just one run in his last 15 appearances dating back to May 1.

ALMOST ZILCH FOR ZACH ... Another hot reliever is Zach Samuels who has allowed just one score in his last 12.0 innings and nine appearances dating back to May 12 for a 0.75 ERA. He has mowed down 11 batters and issued just one free pass in that stretch.

LEAVE IT TO THE PEN ... The Lakeland bullpen has allowed just one run in the second half (that coming in 7.1 innings of relief on July 1) for a miniscule 0.35 ERA since the first half ended. Conversely, the starting rotation has been tagged for a 4.89 ERA. With the performance of the bullpen, Lakeland has been able to post a 30-1 record when leading after seven innings and a 13-7 record in 1-run games. However, the Flying Tigers are 1-4 in extra inning games.

DANDY DANIEL ... Daniel Fields has hits in 12 of his last 15 games for a .300 average (15-for-50).

BANG UP CROWDS ... Lakeland has averaged almost 4,000 fans (3,982) in the last five Fourth of July games with a high of 5,248 in 2009. Only once has the event been rained out with a soggy night in 2007.

FROM THE FARM TO THE SHOW ... As of Friday, there were 12 former Flying Tigers on the big league team, including pitchers Charlie Furbush (1-1, 2.49), Lester Oliveros (made his major league debut on Friday), Ryan Perry (0-0, 9.00), Rick Porcello (6-6, 5.06), Justin Verlander (11-3, 2.32) and Brayan Villarreal (1-1, 6.32). Among the position players are Brennan Boesch (.303-10-38), Andy Dirks (.255-6-15), Don Kelly (.250-2-10), Ryan Raburn (.203-7-28), Ramon Santiago (.219-1-7) and Casper Wells (.250-4-12).

LAKELAND IN THE FSL ... Jared Wesson is in a four-way tie for the league lead with eight wins while Kenny Faulk is tied for second with 19 saves; third among relievers with 11.69 strikeouts, fifth with 1.39 walks and fourth with 8.91 baserunners allowed per nine innings ... Tony Plagman is fifth with 52 runs batted in ... Brent Wyatt continues to lead with a .429 on-base percentage ... Trevor Feeney is first with 98.2 innings pitched and fourth among starters with 1.55 walks issued per nine innings ... Jordan Lennerton is tied for second with 56 walks ... Lakeland is tied with Clearwater for the league lead with a .982 fielding percentage ... Wade Gaynor leads all third baseman with a .953 fielding percentage while Daniel Fields leads all outfielders with a .994 fielding mark ... Julio Rodriguez has thrown out 38.7 percent of opposing would-be base stealers, a mark which ranks second among all league catchers.