THE FLYING TIGERS (3-0, 2011 Season: 64-74) ... At 3-0 on the year, Lakeland is the only undefeated team in the North Division (Charlotte is the only team in the South without a loss). The Flying Tigers scored 17 runs in the three games over Tampa and lead the league in hitting with a .321 average while the staff ERA of 1.93 is third best in the league.

THE MANATEES (2-1, 2011 Season: 62-76) ... Brevard County, an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, is close behind the Flying Tigers with a 2-1 mark after downing Daytona 1-0 on Saturday. Shawn Zarraga and Reggie Keen are tied for second in the Florida State League with four RBI each. Zarraga is the team’s top hitter with a .444 average and is the only player hitting over .273 so far on the club. The Manatees are hitting .227 as a team and are fourth in the league with a 2.77 staff ERA.

FIRST ROUNDERS ... Manatee pitchers Eric Arnett, Taylor Jungmann and Jed Bradley were all first-round picks by Milwaukee in their respective drafts. Arnett was the 29th pick overall in 2009 out of Indiana University where he was the Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Year with a 12-2 record. Jungmann, who was rated as the Brewers’ No. 3 prospect entering the 2012 by MLB.com, was the team’s top pick 2011 first round pick (12th overall) out of Texas. He won the 2011 Dick Howser Award as the top college baseball player. Bradley, who’s full name is Jedidiah Custer Bradley, was also a first-round pick (15th overall pick) by the Brewers’ in last year’s draft out of Georgia Tech.

MOUND PRESENCE ... Brevard County pitcher Gregory Holle is 6’8” and weighs 240 pounds. He is the son of former major leaguer Gary Holle who played for Texas in 1979.

LAST SEASON ... Brevard Country took 11 of the 17 games played between these two clubs in 2011. Four of Lakeland’s six wins came in the friendly confines of Joker Marchant Stadium, including the last two meetings of the season.

LET’S PLAY NINE ... The Manatees posted a 9-6 win over Lakeland on Aug. 6 last season. It was the final nine-inning game in the series. The next night, Aug. 7, Brevard Country triumphed again, this time 6-5 in 13 innings. The final five games in the series were all seven-inning contests.

PERFECT START ... Lakeland’s opening series sweep of Tampa gives the Flying Tigers a 3-0 start, becoming just the second Lakeland club since at least 1995 to begin the season with three consecutive wins. The 2002 club was the last Lakeland club to start with three wins, but lost their fourth game.

YANKEE SWEEP ... The three-game sweep over Tampa marked the first time since May 24-26, 2010 that the Flying Tigers swept a series from the Yankees.

HOME OPENERS ... Lakeland’s 5-2 win on Saturday was their fifth straight home opening win for the Flying Tigers.

OPENING DAY CROWDS ... Saturday’s home opener drew 2,020 fans, the second largest crowd for the first home game of the year in the last nine years. The 2009 home opener pulled in 2,224 fans.

THREE FOR THREE ... Perhaps Tyler Collins’ first name should be Trey as  the former sixth-round pick by Detroit has had three hits in each of his first three games. He is hitting 9-for-13 for a .692 start the season and his nine hits lead the FSL while his .693 average is second best to John Andreoli of Daytona who is 3x4 (.750) in two games played. Collins’ .714 on base percentage is also second in the league while his .769 slugging percentage is third best.

STRONG ARMS ... A big reason for Lakeland’s 3-0 start is the quality of the starting pitching staff so far. Alex Burgos and Kevin Eichhorn each worked 6.0 innings in their respective starts while Brian Flynn went 6.2 frames on Saturday. Flynn did not allow a run in his stint while Eichhorn allowed one earned run and Burgos was touched for just two earned run giving the Lakeland starters a 0.92 ERA to start the season. The trio has combined for 12 strikeouts while walking four. Overall, Lakeland pitching has a 1.93 staff ERA.

HOT BATS ... In addition to Tyler Collins, other Flying Tigers have been swinging hot bats: Frank Castellanos had two doubles in Friday’s game at Tampa and added a pair of singles in Saturday’s game at home against the Yankees to make him 5x12 (.417) to start the year while Avisail Garcia also has five hits and is 5x17 (.385) on the year. Dixon Machado (.364) and Daniel Fields (.308) are also hitting over .300 in the early going. As a team, Lakeland is batting .321 so far.

AVERAGING OVER TEN ... Lakeland is 3-0 on the year, despite striking out 32 times over the first three games. Tampa pitchers struck out 12 Lakeland batters in both games one and three.

CLOSING IN ON 1700 ... Flying Tiger manager Dave Huppert is in his second season with Lakeland and his 24th season as a minor league manager. He brings a 1,675-1,535 record into the Brevard County series.

ALUMNI REPORT ... Here’s a look at how some former Flying Tigers are doing in the early going at Erie (1-2): Rawley Bishop is hitting .444, good for sixth in the Midwest League while Rob Brantly has a home run and a .375 average. Corey Jones is 3x5. Two of Lakeland’s top hitters in 2011 are still looking for their stroke at AA as Jordan Lennerton is 2x11 with five strikeouts and Tony Plagman is 1x11 with four K’s. Jared Wesson won his first start allowing one run over 5.0 innings.
    Up in Toledo (1-1), Audy Ciriaco is 1x8 with four strikeouts while Drew Smyly lasted just 1.2 innings in his first start, getting tagged for three runs on three hits. Adam Wilk tossed five shutout innings with six punchouts in 5.0 in getting his first win of the year.
    For Detroit (2-0), Brennan Boesch is 0x9, Andy Dirks is 2x4 and Ryan Raburn is 1x8. Duane Below picked up a win with 2.1 innings of relief work in Saturday’s 10-0 blowout of Boston while Justin Verlander tossed 8.0 shutout innings while allowing just two hits and striking out seven, but came out of the opener without a win as Detroit won it in the bottom of the ninth.