THE SERIES .... A weekend home series means three different start times for the Flying Tigers. The series gets underway on Friday at 7:11 pm and continues on Saturday at 6:00 pm. The finale is at 1 pm on Sunday.
THE FLYING TIGERS (21-19 second half, 4th, 3.5 GB, 57-48 overall) ... Lakeland cranked out 12 hits (six for extra bases) in a 7-0 win over Bradenton on Thursday. The win allowed Lakeland to earn a split of the season series with Bradenton. After dropping four straight, Lakeland has now won four out of five. Tyler Collins has climbed into the top ten in hitting in the FSL with a .296 batting average while his 30 doubles is second to Clearwater’s Jim Murphy’s 33. Collins’ 40 extra base hits is tied for second most. Despite 26 hits the last two games, Lakeland has dropped to second overall with a .265 team batting average.
THE THRESHERS (23-17 second half, 2nd, 1.5 GB, 59-47 overall) ... Clearwater posted a 5-2 win over St. Lucie on Thursday for its second straight win after losing three straight. Adam Morgan and Austin Wright rank third and fourth in the Florida State League, respectively, with 3.05 and 3.20 ERAs, while Jesse Biddle’s ERA of 3.23 ranks sixth. The trio is atop the FSL in strikeouts with Morgan leading all league pitchers with 133. Biddle is next with 116 and Wright is third with 110. Wright’s nine wins is tied for second most in the league. Jim Murphy has hit 14 homers to tie for third most in the league while his 71 runs batted in is second most. His 33 doubles leads all FSL hitters as does his 48 extra-base hits. Clearwater’s .255 team average is eighth in the league.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...
8/03 - RHP Drew VerHagen (0-2, 3.60 ERA) ... VerHagen will be making his first home start of his brief Flying Tiger career after three road starts. In his last start on July 29, he worked 4.0 innings of no-hit ball at Saint Lucie.
8/04 - RHP Luis Angel Sanz (8-3, 3.68 ERA) ... Sanz will be looking to keep his home undefeated streak alive, putting his 6-0 home mark on the line. In ten home appearances, including six starts, Sanz has a 3.06 ERA while on the road he is 2-3 with a 4.50 earned run average. In his last start on July 20 at home against Bradenton, he tossed 7.0 shutout innings and allowed four hits, but did not get the decision. He had won his previous four starts.
8/05 - LHP Shawn Teufel (5-6, 6.22 ERA) ... Teufel is gunning for his first win since July 3. One start ago on July 26 at St. Lucie, he allowed seven runs on nine hits in four innings to get a loss for the first time since June 28. In his last start on July 31 against Bradenton, he held the Marauders to two runs on four hits over 7.0 innings but again did not factor into the decision.
THIS YEAR ... The two clubs have split their 10 games. James Robbins leads Lakeland with 13 hits in the series, including five doubles, with seven RBI. Wade Gaynor and Avisail Garcia each had 12 hits and both hit two homers against the Threshers. Daniel Fields had collected 10 base hits in 2012 versus Clearwater. Brian Flynn, who was promoted to Erie and was later sent to Miami as part of the traded for Omar Infante and Anibal Sanchez, had a 3-0 record and a 2.45 ERA in the series. Jim Murphy has 16 hits, including eight doubles and a homer, against Lakeland while Cameron Rupp and Peter Lavin have 11 and 10 hits, respectively.
INSIDE THE PHILLIES ROSTER ... Outfielders Anthony Hewitt and Zach Collier were both first-round picks by Philadelphia in 2008. Hewitt was the 24th pick overall while Collier was the 34th pick. Pitcher Jesse Biddle was Philadelphia’s first-round draft pick (27th overall) in 2010 out of Germantown Friends High School in Philadelphia. Biddle, along with fellow pitcher Austin Wright, catcher Cameron Rupp, and outfielder Peter Lavin, were all named to the 2012 FSL All-Star team. Albert Cartwright was born in Winter Haven and played at Polk State College.
FIELDS MOVES ON UP ... After playing two and a half years for the Flying Tigers, Daniel Fields got the call he has been waiting for. On Thursday, the center fielder was promoted to AA Erie. Fields had collected hits in second straight games prior to the promotion and was batting .266 on the season. Fields ranks sixth with 295 career games played for Lakeland and tenth with 250 career base hits. His 14 triples is third most for a Lakeland player while his 119 runs batted in is ninth best. Fields, starting in left field, had a long, rough night in his AA debut, going 0x8 in Erie’s 17-inning, 9-7 win over Hew Hampshire on Thursday.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER ... Lakeland had all phases of the game going in last night’s 7-0 win over Bradenton. Marcus Lemon was 4x5 with a pair triples; Wade Gaynor clubbed a three-run homer; Alex Burgos, Matt Crouse and Tyler Clark combined on a six-hit shutout; Burgos picked off a runner and the outfielders gunned down three baserunners.
MARVELOUS MARCUS ... Marcus Lemon doesn’t get a chance to play in every game for Lakeland, but when his name is in the line-up, the Flying Tiger outfielder gets his licks in. He enters this series with a six-game hit streak in which he is 13x28 (.536). In his last four games, he is an amazing 11x19 (.579) with four runs scored. The four hits on Thursday marks the fourth time this season Lemon has had four hits in a single game.
SPEED AT THE FIRST SACK ... First baseman are generally not known for the speed on the basepaths, but Lakeland first sacker James Robbins demonstrated enough speed to record an inside-the-park home run to spark the Flying Tigers ninth inning heroics on Monday. It was Lakeland’s third inside-the-park homer this season as Dixon Machado and Wade Gaynor have also duplicated the rare feat.
MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME ... Lakeland had not had a walk-off hit this season until Marcus Lemon singled in James Robbins in the bottom of the tenth on Monday for a 1-0 Flying Tiger win. Two nights later, Dean Green hit an infield single against five infielders and with the bases loaded to cap a four-run ninth inning in a dramatic 6-5 come-from-behind win on Wednesday.
ONE OLD, ONE NEW, ONE HURT ... Michael Rockett returns to Lakeland from Erie where he was batting .246 in 65 games with five homers and 67 RBI. The outfielder played 52 games for Lakeland in 2011. The new kid on the block is pitcher Cesar Carrillo, a former number one draft pick by the San Diego Padres in 2005 out of the University of Miami. Carrillo worked his way up the Padres organization and made his major league debut on August 13, 2009. Starting three games for San Diego, he was released in 2010 and, after one season in the Astros’ organization, was signed by Detroit on June 12 of this year. He was 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA in six appearances (five starts) for Erie. In addition, Brian Stroud was placed on the disabled list.
MY WORK HERE IS DONE ... Detroit pitcher Al Aburquerque wrapped up his rehab assignment on Thursday. In four appearances, he struck out nine and walked one while allowing five hits in 3.1 total innings pitched.
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 1,729-1,583 record into the Bradenton series.
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