THE SERIES ... The first two games of this series will be played at Space Coast Stadium in Viera on Monday and Tuesday, April 15-16. Both games are scheduled for 6:35 p.m. The series finale takes place Wednesday, April 17, at 6:30 p.m. at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland.
THE FLYING TIGERS (3-7, 6th Place, 4.0 GB) ... Lakeland shut out Dunedin 2-0 on Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak. Kevin Eichhorn tossed seven shutout innings in holding the Blue Jays to two hits. Sunday’s game was the seventh time this season Lakeland has three or fewer runs in a contest. The Flying Tigers have a staff ERA of 4.08 which is eighth in the league.
THE MANATEES (6-4, 2nd Place, 1.0 GB) ... Brevard County beat Clearwater 2-1 on Sunday to win its second straight game and fifth in the last six outings. Nick Ramirez is tied for the league lead with three homers and has gone 8x25 (.320) in the last six games. Chad Pierce leads the Florida State League with 17 strikeouts. Seth Harvey is tied for second with three saves. The Manatees have a 4.04 staff earned run average which is seventh in the Florida State League.
LAKELAND PROBABLE PITCHES (based on past rotations)
4/15 (@BRE) - RHP Tommy Collier (0-0, 7.27 ERA) ... last start came on 4.10 at Brevard Country ... allowed five earned runs on six hits ... stuck out four and walked none in 4.2 innings ... five of his seven earned runs this season came in the second inning with the other two scoring in the first frame.
4/16 (@BRE) - RHP Drew VerHagen (0-2, 2.61 ERA) ... last start came on 4/11 at Brevard County ... allowed just one hit in 6.0 shutout innings ... retired the first 14 in a row ... struck out four and walked one in allowing two unearned runs .. the 6.0 is the longest any Lakeland started has gone this season.
4/17 (@LAK) - RHP Wilsen Palacios (0-1, 6.00 ERA) ... last start came on 4/12 at Dunedin ... gave up four earned runs on seven hits ... struck out two and walked four in 5.0 innings ... this will be his home debut after two road starts.
LAST WEEK ... The Flying Tigers were swept by the Manatees in last week’s series, losing 1-3 and 6-7 in Lakeland and 0-2 at Brevard County. Eugenio Suarez and Dean Green each had four hits in the series while Jason Krizan had three hits. One of Green’s hits was a solo home run. Nick Ramirez singled, tripled and had a pair of doubles for the Manatees while Gregory Hopkins hit a grand slam and totalled five RBI in three games.
ANYBODY SEEN THE OFFENSE? ... The Flying Tigers and the Manatees have the two lowest team batting averages in the league. Lakeland is hitting .227 while Brevard County is last with a .207 mark. The two teams are also in the bottom three in runs scored. Jupiter is last with 25 runs, Lakeland is second with 30 and Brevard County is third with 35 tallies.
DOUBLE DIGIT HITS ... On Sunday, Eugenio Suarez and Aaron Westlake each had three hits while John Murrian added a base of base hits as the Flying Tigers reached double digits in hits (11) for just the second time this season.
BULLPEN CONTROL ... The Flying Tigers bullpen has not walked a batter in the last 13.1 innings over five games and issued just one free pass in the last 21.0 innings over seven contests. Relievers have struck out 24 batters in those same seven games. Melvin Mercedes has not allowed a run or a walk in any of his three appearances out of the pen while Michael Torrealba has also not allowed a base on balls in his three outings.
LAKELAND TRIVIA ... Lakeland has won four Florida State League Championships since 1976 with current Detroit manager Jim Leyland guiding the team to back-to-back titles in 1976 and 1977. Who managed the 1992 team to their FSL crown? (Answer at the end of this column.)
GREEN WITH ENVY ... Dean Green has base hits in nine of his ten games this season for a .325 average.
DOUBLE GAINS FOR McVANEY ... Jeff McVaney has collected at least one base hits in eight of his ten games played this season for a .308 average. Seven of his 12 base hits have been for extra bases, including five doubles, a triple and a home run.
SUAREZ ROLLIN’ ... Eugenio Suarez brings a six-game hit streak into the Brevard County series. The Flying Tiger shortstop is 9x23 over the last six games for a .391 clip. On Sunday, he had a season-high three base hits in four at bats against Dunedin.
WESTLAKE MOVIN’ ... Aaron Westlake has a four-game hit streak entering the Manatee series in which he is 6x14 (.429). Half of those hits came in Sunday’s game as he went 3x4 against the Blue Jays.
10-FOR-10 ... Only two players have batted in the same place in the batting order in each of Lakeland’s ten games this season. Dean Green has batted clean-up in each game while Aaron Westlake has started each game batting in the sixth spot.
THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, who was inducted into the Florida State League Hall of Fame in 2012, is in his 25th season as a minor league manager and is the active winningest manager in the minors with a 1,748-1,590 record entering the Brevard County series. Last season, he led Lakeland to the 2012 Florida State League Championship to record his fourth overall championship and his third in the FSL. He also led the 2001 Brevard County to a co-championship while his 2007 Clearwater squad won the crown outright. In addition, he coached the Lakeland Blue Claws (Phillies) to the 2006 South Atlantic League title.
UP NEXT ... Wednesday’s game is the first of a seven-game home-stand for the Flying Tigers. Dunedin comes to town for three games April 18-20 with Clearwater visiting Lakeland April 21-23. The Flying Tigers will have three more seven-game homestands during the 2013 season.
UPCOMING PROMOS ... Wednesday, April 17 is All-You-Can-Eat Night sponsored by Texas Roadhouse ... Thursday, April 18 is Taste of Lakeland with food from vendors across Polk County and live music ... Friday, April 19 is the fourth annual “Pink in the Park.” ... Saturday, April 20 will feature postgame fireworks (weather permitting).
A PERFECT 10 ... Fort Myers continues to roll in the early going, posting a perfect 10-0 record. Six of its wins have been by one run, including two in extra innings.
TRIVIA ANSWER ... John Lipon capped his five-year career with Lakeland by leading the 1992 squad to the Florida State League championship. Lakeland swept West Palm Beach and Clearwater in the first two rounds and then swept Baseball City for the Florida State League title.
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