TAMPA RAIN OUT ... Friday’s scheduled game at the Yankees was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader on July 23 in Tampa.
THE SERIES .... The series gets underway on Sunday, June 24 with a 1 pm game while the next three games will take start at 6:30 pm. All four games will be played at Lakeland’s Joker Marchant Stadium.
UP NEXT ... The Flying Tigers hit the road for three games at Clearwater on June 28-30 and then cross the state for a three-game set at Daytona on July 1-3. The next home game for Lakeland will be a July 4 match-up with Clearwater at 5 pm.
THE FLYING TIGERS (37-30 overall, 1-1 second half) ... Brian Flynn struck out five and scattered five hits in six scoreless innings as Lakeland evened its second half record at 1-1 with a 9-1 win over Tampa on Saturday. With the win, the Flying Tigers have now won nine of the last 11 games. Lakeland collected 11 hits in Saturday’s game – its third straight with double-digit hits – and is 35x105 in those three games for a .333 average. Dixon Machado has five of those hits (5x13) in the three game span while Hernan Perez and James Robbins each had four hits. The hot hitting has given Lakeland a league-leading .272 batting average.
THE HAMMERHEADS (38-35 overall, 2-1 second half) ... Jupiter swept a doubleheader at Palm Beach on Saturday, winning the opener 1-0 on a Noah Perio double in the fourth inning. The Hammerheads opened the nightcap with a four-run first for a 4-1 win. Danny Black leads the club with a .304 average (seventh in the FSL) and 13 stolen bases while Mark Canha has a .293 mark. Michael Ozuna provides the pop with a league-leading 15 home runs to go with his 51 runs batted in which is second in the league. Reliever Raudel Lazo has a 5-1 record with a 1.31 ERA in 22 games while closer Michael Brady is tied for fourth in the league with 11 saves. The Hammerheads have the second lowest staff ERA (3.48) in the league. Jupiter is batting .256 as a team (sixth in the FSL) and has hit the fourth most homers (43) of any league team.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...
6/24 - RHP Brian Stroud (0-1, 3.76 ERA) ... Stroud has a 1.59 ERA in his last three starts with three earned runs allowed on 13 hits and eight K’s and four walks. In his last two starts he has been touched for just one earned run on seven hits over 11.0 innings. Despite the impressive numbers, he is still looking for his first win since joining Lakeland. Stroud worked 6.0 innings vs. Jupiter on June 4 and held the Hammerheads to one unearned run on three hits, but did not factor into the decision.
6/25 - RHP Luis Angel Sanz (3-2, 4.89 ERA) ... Sanz has allowed three runs on six hits with two walks in each of his last two starts with a combined 13 strike outs. Over his last five games, he has struck out 27 batters and walked seven and has a 2-2 record. Sanz is 1-2 with a 4.55 ERA on the road and 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA at home. As a starter, Sanz has a 2-2 record and a 2.48 ERA. Against Jupiter on June 2 he held the Hammerheads scoreless through six innings,
6/26 - LHP Shawn Teufel (4-4, 5.68 ERA) ... Teufel saw his 14.0 shutout inning streak come to a close in the first inning of his last start on June 19 against Brevard County. He finished the night allowing four runs on five hits with five strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched. He is now 3-0 with a 2.88 ERA in four June starts and is 1-0 with a 6.75 in one start against Jupiter.
6/27 - RHP Alex Burgos (4-8, 5.66) ... Burgos gave up five runs on eight hits and five walks in 4.0 innings in his last start on June 21 at Tampa. Control has been a problem with four or more walks in each of his last eight starts. He has a 4-6 road record with a 6.11 ERA in 11 road starts and is 0-2 with a 4.11 ERA in three home starts. In his only appearance versus Jupiter, he worked 6.0 no-hit, scoreless innings with six strikeouts and four walks.
THIS YEAR ... Lakeland won the first three games of the series back on June 1-3 in Jupiter by a combined 27-5 score, but Jupiter took the finale on June 4 by a 7-1 tally. Luis Castillo went 8x18 (.444) in the series while Dixon Machado was 7x15 (.500). Nick Castellanos, Marcus Lemon and James McCann all had six hits for Lakeland over the four games as Lakeland hit .313 in the series. Alex Burgos tossed six no-hit innings on June 3 while Luis Angel Sanz worked 7.0 scoreless innings on June 2.
PAIR OF FIRST-ROUNDERS ... Pitcher Chad James was the Marlins’ first round pick (18th overall) in the 2009 draft out of high school and was a combined 10-25 in his first two seasons in 2010 and 2011 ... Outfielder Christian Yelich was the Marlins’ top pick in 2010 out of high school. In 2011, he clubbed 15 homers for Greensboro in the South Atlantic League.
ROSTER SHUFFLE ... Two Flying Tigers departed ranks on Friday and one player was added to the squad. Dropping down to West Michigan was centerfielder Luis Castillo, who was batting .263 with 13 doubles for Lakeland. Headed to Connecticut is catcher Wes Thigpen, who was hitless in three games for the Flying Tigers. Joining Lakeland from West Michigan is catcher Curt Casali, a 10th round pick of Detroit in 2011 out of Vanderbilt University. Casali hit .316 for his four-year career at Vandy with 51 doubles, 27 homers and 167 RBI. He was batting .288 in 48 game for the Whitecaps with 8 dingers and 25 runs batted in.
CASALI DEBUT ... Curt Casali made his Lakeland debut behind the plate on Saturday and after getting hit by a pitch in his first at bat, singled to left for his first hit as a Flying Tiger. He would later score in the inning. He struck out and popped out his final two at bats.
WELCOME TO THE FSL ... Another Lakeland newcomer making his debut on Saturday was pitcher Julio Felix, the first member of the 2012 draft class to play for the Flying Tigers. He got a rather rude welcome as Tampa’s Jose Mojica homered to left on the righthander’s first pitch of his appearance.
FORMER FLYING TIGERS NAMED TO MLB FUTURES GAMES ... Current Erie SeaWolves Nick Castellanos and Bruce Rondon began the season with Lakeland. The duo has been selected to participate in the 2012 Sirius XM All-Star Futures Game which will be played July 8 in Kansas City. Castellanos, a native of Davie, Florida, will represent the USA, while Rondon, who hails from Valencia, Venezuela, will play on the World Team.
ERIC ROOF BACK AS A SPARTAN ... Former Flying Tiger Eric Roof has been named a volunteer assistant baseball coach at his alma mater, Michigan State University. Roof played three seasons with the Spartans leading the club with a .345 average and was taken in the 18th round by Detroit in the 2009 MLB draft. He played three seasons in the minors, including 2011 with Lakeland.
WINNINGEST ACTIVE MANAGER ... Manager Dave Huppert recorded his 1,700th victory as a minor league manager on Sunday, June 3 when the Flying Tigers posted an 11-1 win at Jupiter. He is in his second season with Lakeland and his 24th season as a minor league manager. Huppert, who became the winningest active manager in the minor leagues with Lakeland’s sixth win on April 19 of this year, brings a 1,709-1,565 record into the Jupiter series.
FIRST HALF CHAMPIONS ... Dunedin won the North Division with a 42-27 first-half record, finishing 4.5 games ahead of Lakeland. In the South Division, St. Lucie ran away with the first-half title finishing 14.5 games in first with a 50-20 record. Both clubs are guaranteed a spot in the FSL playoffs in September. Should any one of the two (or both) also win the second half, the club with the best overall record in the Division will get a wild-card berth into the playoffs. If the playoffs were based on the firsthalf alone, the Flying Tigers would win the North wild-card with Jupiter taking the South wild-card spot.
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