Mission Notes vs. Dunedin (Aug. 30-31)

SERIES SCHEDULE ... Tuesday’s doubleheader begins at 5 p.m. at Joker Marchant Stadium with Wednesday’s first pitch at 7 p.m., also at home.

ONE SERIES LEFT ... Following this series with Dunedin, Lakeland will close out the season with four dates and five games against Tampa. The series opens in Tampa on Sept. 1 and goes to Lakeland for a 5 p.m. doubleheader on Sept. 2. Game three in the series has the two clubs returning to Tampa for a single game before closing out the season at home on Sunday, Sept. 4 in a special 11 a.m. start at Joker Marchant Stadium.

THE FLYING TIGERS (60-70, 24-36 2nd Half, 6th, 10.5 GB) ... Lakeland was swept in four games by Clearwater and has now lost five in a row, seven of the last eight and nine of the last 11 games. The Flying Tigers were outscored 35-17 in the four games and was outhit 50-31. Almost half of the 50 hits came in game two of the series as Clearwater collected 23 hits, the most allowed by Lakeland since allowing 24 hits to St. Lucie on June 2, 2009. The Flying Tigers rank ninth in the league with a .258 team batting average and are also ninth with a 3.91 staff ERA.

THE BLUE JAYS (75-58, 36-27 2nd Half, 1st, 0.0 GB) ... Dunedin dropped a 9-6 decision to Daytona last night and have lost two of the last three games. Prior to the mini-slump, the team had won 10 of 12 games and now sits atop the North Division by 1.5 games over Clearwater. Brian Van Kirk and A.J. Jimenez are tied for ninth in the Florida State League with identical .301 batting averages while Nestor Molina is second with a 2.58 ERA to go with his 10-3 season record. Dunedin has league-highs with 113 homers and 279 double and providing the pop is Brad Glenn who has a league-leading 24 home runs and Sean Ochinko is tied for second with 34 doubles. Brad McElroy adds speed with an FSL-best 41 stolen bases while Darin Ruf is tops with 59 extra bases hits. The Blue Jays rank seventh in the league with a .262 team batting average and are also eighth with a 3.88 staff ERA.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...

• Tue., Aug. 30 (GM 1) - Jared Wesson (13-10, 4.61 ERA) held Dunedin to one unearned run on three hits over 6.0 innings in his last start on Aug. 25 with five strikeouts. He’ll be going for his 14th win of the season tonight and if he does, will become just the fourth Lakeland hurler to record 14 or more wins a season. He is slated to start the final game of the season in a chance to tie Darren Hursey (15-8 in 1988) and Gary Christensen (15-10 in 1974) for third on Lakeland’s all-time win list.
• Tue., Aug. 30 (GM 2) - Luke Putkonen (1-6, 5.43 ERA) dropped his last start on Aug. 25 in game two of a doubleheader at Dunedin. He allowed five runs – three earned – on five hits (two of them home runs) in 5.0 innings with five strikeouts. This will be his third start since moving back into the rotation on Aug. 19. He struck out seven in 4.1 shutout innings in that first start back. Putkonen is 0-3 with a 5.63 ERA in three previous starts versus Dunedin in 2011.
• Wed., Aug. 31 - Victor Larez (6-3, 4.12 ERA) did not factor into the decision in his last start on Aug. 26 at Clearwater despite allowing five runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings with six strikeouts. Larez has a 1-0 record and a 5.25 ERA since rejoining Lakeland on Aug. 2 and now has a 5-3 record and a 4.12 earned run average in 13 starts for the Flying Tigers. Larez is 2-0 with a 0.00 in 13.0 innings versus Dunedin this season.

THIS YEAR ... Dunedin holds a slim 8-7 advantage in the 15 games played so far this season. Wade Gaynor has 15 hits, including two homers, and 10 runs batted in against the Blue Jays this season while Tony Plagman has 13 hits and Jordan Lennerton 12 base knocks in the series. Plagman has homered twice against Dunedin while Lennerton has one round tripper. Dunedin’s A.J. Jimenez has 16 hits, including five doubles and two homers vs. Lakeland while Sean Ochinko and Brian Van Kirk have 13 and 12 hits, respectively versus the Flying Tigers.

ERA TAKES A HIKE ... Clearwater victimized Lakeland starting pitchers for 23 earned runs in the recent four-game series for a 12.18 ERA.

NEW KIDS ON THE MOUND ... Lakeland made a couple of roster changes on Sunday as Zach Samuels earned a promotion to AA Erie. Joining the club from the Gulf Coast League club were Eric Heckaman and Brenny Paulino. Heckaman was with the Flying Tigers for one appearance on Aug. 21, working two scoreless innings with two strikeouts and one hit allowed against Clearwater. He was 1-2 with one save in 20 relief appearance with the GCL club. Paulino is making his first appearance on the Lakeland roster in 2011. He has a 4-3 record with a 2.36 ERA in 11 appearances, including eight starts and two complete games with the GCL Tigers. One of those starts was a three-hit, nine-inning shutout on Aug. 5 against the GCL Phillies. His Flying Tiger debut wasn’t as smooth as the righthander has rocked for eight runs on just three hits with four walks and three hit batsmen on Monday in Clearwater.

CLOSING IN ... Tony Plagman leads the Florida State League with 93 runs batted in on the 2011 season – the most for a Flying Tiger player since Ryan Streiby knocked in 94 runs in 2008 and the third most RBI for a Lakeland player since 1974. The Lakeland franchise record for runs batted in belongs to Brent Clevlen who had 102 ribbies 2005.

ROUNDING FIRST ... Lakeland has hit 12 doubles in the last five games as well as one triple and three homers.

WASTED ARM ... Dunedin’s A.J. Jimenez has thrown out 43.5 percent of attempted base runners this season, but that arm may not be needed as Lakeland has stolen a league-low 54 bases. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, have swiped 114 bases.

JONES - LONE BRIGHT SPOT ... Corey Jones doubled, homered and scored two runs in the Flying Tigers last game at Clearwater accounted for 2/5 of Lakeland’s hits. The second baseman has hits in seven of his last eight games and is 10x27 for a .370 average.

PLAGMAN DOUBLES AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN ... Tony Plagman has doubled in each of the last three games and now has 31 doubles on the season. The 31 two-baggers ties him with Juan Encarnacion (1996) for fifth place on Lakeland’s all-time doubles list. Next up is Jaime Lopiccolo (1998) and Bubba Trammel (1995) who are tied for fourth with 32 doubles. The Lakeland record is 40 set by Gabe Kapler in 1997 followed by Jeff Larish (2006) and Cody Ross (2001) who are tied for second with 34 while Chris Maples is in third place with his 33 doubles in 2004.

FLYING HIGH ... Michael Morrison has not allowed a run and has given up just two hits in his last 7.0 innings over four appearances with 12 strikeouts and three walks ... Avisail Garcia is 6x23 (.261) with three homers and a double in his last six games.

GROUNDED ... Mark Sorensen has surrendered 22 hits over 6.2 innings in his last two starts including 12 hits in 2.2 innings in his last outing ... William Bergolla is 3x22 (.136) his last six games ... Avisail Garcia has struck out eight times in the last four games and has taken over the league lead with 129 Ks on the season (Daniel Fields is second in the FSL with 128 strikeouts but has whiffed just twice in his last six games) ... Wade Gaynor is hitless in his last 12 at bats.

LAKELAND IN THE FSL ... Jared Wesson is second with 13 wins ... Kenny Faulk is fourth with 20 saves ... Tony Plagman leads with 93 runs batted in (third most RBI for any Lakeland player since 1974), third with 221 total bases and also third with 52 extra base hits. Plagman has also been intentionally walked a league-high six times ... Jordan Lennerton is second with 89 walks (second most in Lakeland history) ... Wade Gaynor leads all third baseman in fielding percentage (.953), games played (121), total chances (365), putouts (99), assists (249), and double plays (25).