Mission Notes vs. Brevard County

THE SERIES ... All three games of this series will be played at Joker Marchant Stadium with 6:30 pm start times for all three games.

THE FLYING TIGERS (34-26 second half, 1st 0.0 GB, 70-55 overall) ... The Flying Tigers lost out on an opportunity to try and put an extra game between them and the Blue Jays when Sunday’s game at Dunedin was cancelled due to impending bad weather. The game will not be made up as the two clubs do not face each other again this season. The win on Friday gave Lakeland 70 wins on the year, just the second time (2010) in the last six years they have reached that milestone. The club record of 85 wins came in 1977 (85-53) and 2005 (85-48). By the way the 1977 club was managed by current Detroit manager Jim Leyland while the 2005 club was the last Lakeland team to make the playoffs. Lakeland has increased its league leading team batting average to .266. Should the Flying Tigers maintain this pace, they will post the highest team average since the 2005 club hit .276 on the year.

THE MANATEES (31-30 second half, 5th, 3.5 GB, 60-69 overall) ... Brevard County, which was also rained out on Sunday, took two from Clearwater over the weekend, knocking the Threshers to two games back in the standings. While Lakeland leads the FSL in hitting, Brevard County has the lowest average (.242) in the league. Taylor Jungmann picked up his 11th win of the year on Friday, moving him into a tie with Lakeland’s Luis Angel Sanz for most wins in the FSL. Casey Medlen ranks second in the league with 21 saves while outfielder Reggie Keen is second in the FSL with 43 stolen bases.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...
   8/27 - RHP Cesar Carrillo (1-2, 5.40 ERA) ... Cesar Carrillo picked up his first win as a Lakeland Flying Tiger in his last start on Aug. 19 at him against Dunedin. In that game, he worked 5.2 innings, holding the Blue Jays to three runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Carrillo has not face Brevard County this season.
   8/28 - RHP Drew VerHagen (0-2, 2.55 ERA) ... Drew VerHagen will be looking for his first win in a Flying Tigers uniform. In his last start on Aug. 22 at Brevard County, he tossed 4.0 shutout innings on three hits with a walk and three strikeouts. That is his only appearance versus Brevard County this season. He is 0-2 with a 3.71 ERA on the road.
   8/28 - Alex Burgos (8-10, 5.06 ERA) ... Alex Burgos has allowed two earned runs over his last four outings for a 1.15 ERA, but has just one win to show for his efforts. Burgos’ achilles heel this season has been his control as he has issued a Florida State League leading 86 walks. In his last start on Aug. 22 at Brevard County, Burgos allowed one run on four hits thru 3.2 innings with three walks and no strikeouts. He is 1-2 with a 3.66 ERA in four starts against the Manateees this season and is 2-2 in five home starts in 2012.

THIS YEAR ... Brevard County took six of the first seven meetings between the two clubs, but Lakeland has won seven consecutive games in the series since then. Nine of the 14 contests between the Flying Tigers and the Manatees have been settled by one run with Lakeland winning six of those close games. Tyler Collins has 16 hits in the series and has driven in eight runs while James Robbins has had 12 hits including four doubles and a home run. Matt Crouse has two wins against the Manatees and has not allowed a run in five appearances versus Brevard County.

INSIDE THE MANATEES’ ROSTER ... Brevard’s Taylor Jungmann was the Brewer’s top pick (12th overall) in the 2011 draft out of Texas while Eric Arnett was a first-round pick (26th overall) by Milwaukee in 2009 out of Indiana University, Catcher Joey Paciorek is the son of former Brewers’ outfielder Jim Paciorek.

SAME COLLEGE, DIFFERENT TIMES ... Manatee infielder Nick Shaw played four seasons (2007-10) at Barry University in Miami Shores. Lakeland designated hittter Dean Green followed in 2010 to play one season for the Buccaneers.

PENNANT CHASE ... Lakeland split two games at Dunedin over the weekend to take over sole possession of first place. Dunedin, Tampa and Clearwater are all 1.0 games behind the Flying Tigers. The Flying Tigers are gunning for their first pennant since winning both halves of the season in 2005. That club advanced to the Florida State League Championship, falling three games to two to the Palm Beach Cardinals. Should Dunedin, which won the first half, surge ahead and win the second half as well, Lakeland could earn a wild card playoff spot which goes to the club with the best record in the event of a repeat winner. Lakeland returns to Joker Marchant Stadium for the final seven games of the regular season. Brevard County comes in for three games while the Yankees are the Flying Tigers’ opponent for the final four games. Here’s a look the remaining games for the top four teams.
   TAMPA – DUN (3 A); vs. LAK (4 A)
   LAKELAND – vs. BRV (3 H); vs. TPA (4 H)
   DUNEDIN – vs. TPA (3 A); vs. CLR (AHAH)
   CLEARWATER – (DAY 3 A) vs. DUN (HAHA)

FLYING HIGH ... Curt Casali is 5x16 (.313) his last five games with three doubles ... Luis Castillo has hits in his last three games (4x9, .444) including his first home run of the year on Saturday, Aug. 25 ... Tyler Collins has hit .310 (26x84) in August with 17 runs scored, seven doubles, a pair of homers and 13 runs batted in ... Wade Gaynor is 12x40 (.300) in the last 11 games with hits in 10 of those contests, including the last four straight ... Dean Green is 7x13 his last three games and is 15x40 (.375) his last nine games with seven runs scored, two homers and eight runs batted in ... Marcus Lemon has hits in six consecutive games and is 8x23 (.348) in those contests. He has also drawn five walks in that span ... Adolfo Reina has gone 8x12 (.667) over the last four games with nine runs driven in ... James Robbins has collected hits in six of the last seven games with four runs scored and five more driven in.

ON THE HILL ... Matt Crouse has a streak of 17.0 consecutive scoreless innings pitched and has allowed just two runs (both in the same game) in his last 14 appearances. He is now 7-1 with six saves and a 1.71 ERA ... Drew VerHagen has back-to-back shutout appearances, tossing 4.0 scoreless innings against both Daytona and Brevard County ... Warwick Saupold tossed 6.0 shutout innings in his last start on Aug. 24 at Dunedin. He struck out five and allowed seven in that game.

#2 IN DOUBLES ... With a double on Friday at Dunedin, Tyler Collins moved into second place on the all-time Lakeland list with 35 doubles, passing Jeff Larish (2006) and Cody Ross (2001) who were tied for second with 34 doubles. The Lakeland record of 40 was set by Gabe Kapler in 1997.

ROSTER SHUFFLE ... Curt Casali left Friday’s game due to an injury and was placed on the disabled list on Sunday with Jordan Guida taking his place on the Lakeland roster. Guida, who was signed as an undrafted free agent by Detroit out of Tennessee Wesleyan College in 2012, began his collegiate career with nearby Florida Southern College in 2009, playing one season with the Moccasins.

LAST HOMESTAND ... Lakeland closes out the regular season with four home games against Tampa on Aug. 30-Sept. 2.

WINNINGEST ACTIVE MANAGER ... Manager Dave Huppert, who was just named to the Florida State League Hall of Fame, 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 1,742-1,590 record into the Dunedin series.