THE SERIES .... All three games of this series will be contested in the friendly confines of Joker Marchant Stadium where the Flying Tigers are 19-13 on the season. The series gets underway with a Fourth of July clash at 5 pm followed by a 6:30 pm game on Thursday. Friday’s game has a special 7:11 pm start time.
THE FLYING TIGERS (6-4 second half, T-1st, 0.0 GB, 42-33 overall) ... Lakeland took two of three at Daytona and has won four of its last five games to climb into a three-way tie for first place in the North Division with Brevard County and Tampa. The Flying Tigers collected eight base hits in each of three games versus the Cubs and are 63x222 the last six games for a .284 average. The club has had 16 doubles, two triples and five home runs in the last five games. The hot bats have kept the Flying Tigers atop the Florida State League with a .270 mark –some seven points higher than second place Dunedin. The staff ERA has risen to 3.97 which is the eighth highest in the league.
THE THRESHERS (7-6 second half, T-4th, 0.5 GB, 43-36 overall) ... Clearwater won the last two games of their three-game series versus Brevard County by a 9-1 margin. The two wins snapped a three-game losing streak for the Threshers. Clearwater has the top three strikeout pitchers in the Florida State League in Adam Morgan (87), Jesse Biddle (82) and Austin Wright (82) and therefore, it’s no surprise that the Threshers lead the league in strikeouts. Biddle is slated to pitch game two of this series on Thursday with Wright to follow on Friday. Jim Murphy is fourth in the Florida State League with 51 runs batted in. Clearwater is in the middle of the league with a .257 team batting average and a 3.93 staff earned run average.
THIS YEAR ... Lakeland took two of three from Clearwater last weekend and holds a 4-3 edge in the season series. Avisail Garcia had 12 hits in the series for Lakeland, including a pair of homers, while Daniel Fields has had 10 hits in the seven games. Brian Flynn has three of Lakeland’s four wins in the series and has a 2.84 ERA to go with his 3-0 mark against Threshers.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...
7/04 - LHP Brian Flynn (7-4, 4.06 ERA) ... Flynn has won his last three starts with a 3.11 ERA. In his last outing on June 29, he allowed four runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings to get the win against Clearwater. Flynn is 3-0 with a 2.84 ERA in his three starts versus Clearwater this season.
7/05 - LHP Jared Wesson (0-0, 7.20 ERA) ... Wesson allowed four runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in 5.0 innings in his only previous appearance against the Threshers in 2012 (also his first appearance of this season for Lakeland). He was 1-1 with a 4.35 ERA in two starts versus Clearwater in 2011.
7/06 - RHP Alex Burgos (5-8, 5.52 ERA) ... Burgos has won three of his last four starts including his last outing on July 1 at Daytona. In that game, he struck out six and walked three while holding the Cubs to three hits over 5.0 innings. This will be just his four start at home (0-2, 4.11) in contrast to 12 road starts (5-6, 5.90) Burgos has not faced Clearwater this season.
INSIDE THE THRESHERS ROSTER ... Pitcher Jesse Biddle was the Phillies’ first round pick (27th overall) in the 2010 draft out of Germantown Friends High School in Philly ... Outfielder Anthony Hewitt was the Phillies’ top pick (24th overall) in 2008 out of Salisbury High in Connecticut while outfielder Zach Collier was also a first-round pick (34th overall) by Philadelphia in 2008 out of Chino Hills High School in California.
COLLEGE TEAMMATES, ETC. ... Current Thresher Chris Kissock and former Flying Tigers outfielder Brent Wyatt were college teammates in 2007 at Lewis & Clark University ... Current Clearwater catcher Cameron Rupp and former Lakeland infielder Brandon Loy were fellow Longhorns at the University of Texas in 2010 ... Albert Cartwright played junior college baseball at nearby Polk State College.
GARCIA GETS THE CALL ... Avisail Garcia was promoted to AA Erie following Tuesday’s game. The Flying Tigers rightfielder was batting .289 with eight doubles, five triples and a team-leading eight home runs on the season with 36 runs batted in.
NICE TO HAVE YOU BACK ... The Flying Tigers welcomed back Lance Durham to the roster on Tuesday. Durham was with the club for a day earlier this season having been added on May 30 from extended spring training only to be sent back to EST on May 31. Originally a 14th round pick in 2009 out of the University of Cincinnati by Toronto, he signed with Detroit as a free agent in 2012. Durham, the son of former major leaguer Leon “Bull” Durham, was drafted in 2006 out of high school by Detroit but did not sign.
SOLID BEHIND THE PLATE ... Both Lakeland catchers have carried their weight with their bats as of late. Curt Casali has hits in each of his last five games and is 8x21 (.381) in those games with four doubles. Likewise, Adolfo Reina also has eight hits in his last five games, going 8x18 (.444) in those five games.
TREY TYLER ... Tyler Collins went 8x14 (.571) in the recent Daytona series with five runs batted in. Twice he had three hits in a game, something he has done a dozen times in 2012.
ROCKIN’ ROBBINS ... James Robbins hit a three-run homer in Tuesday’s game at Daytona and has hits in seven of his last nine games (14x31, .452) and 13 of his last 17 games (22x56, .393). In addition, he has scored at least one run in eight of the last ten games.
ACCEPTING THE ROLE ... It appears that Tyler Clark has taken over the role as closer for Lakeland since the departure of Bruce Rondon. Clark has saves in each of his last three appearances and is a perfect four for four this season in save opportunities. He has allowed just one hit in his last five appearances has not been scored upon in his last seven outings and just once since April 26 (16 appearances). In ten home appearances, he is 2-0 with two saves and a 0.64 ERA. Overall, he is 4-0 with four saves and a 0.92 ERA.
CLOSE ONES ... Lakeland’s 9-8 win over Daytona on Tuesday was the club’s 18th game decided by one run. The Flying Tigers have the best record of any FSL team in one-run games at 12-6. In addition, Lakeland is 10-3 in games decided by two runs giving the Flying Tigers at 22-9 record in close games. Clearwater has been involved in 26 one run games with a 16-10 record.
COMING FROM BEHIND ... Lakeland is 26-9 when the opponent scores first in a game, the third best record in such games of any FSL club. Conversely, the Flying Tigers are 26-13 when scoring first.
WORKING OVER TIME ... Although the team hasn’t been involved in an extra-inning game since June 11, Lakeland is 4-1 in “overtime.”
UP NEXT ... Lakeland continues it homestand with a three-game set with the Daytona Cubs on July 7-9.
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 1,714-1,568 record into the Clearwater series.
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