THE SERIES ... All four games of this series will be played at McKechnie Field in Bradenton on July 21-24. The series gets underway on Sunday at 5 p.m. with the next two games on Monday and Tuesday at 6:30 pm. The series finale is a summer camp day game at 10 am on Wednesday.
THE FLYING TIGERS (41-50, 11-12, T-4th North, 3.0 GB) ... Lakeland played just one game against the Cardinals during a recent series as three games were rained out. The one loss snapped a four-game win streak by the Flying Tigers who have won six of the last eight. Lakeland is 18-9 against the South Division. The Flying Tigers are 23-24 on the road with a .251 team batting average and a 3.66 ERA while going 18-26 at home with a .241 team average and a 3.75 ERA. Kyle Ryan ranks seventh in the FSL with a 3.08 ERA and is tied with two others at nine wins to lead in that category and is second with 108.0 innings. Wilsen Palacios, whose start on Saturday was cut short due to rain and will not count in the stats, has dropped to fourth in the FSL with 85 strikeouts. Lakeland is tied with Bradenton for second lowest team batting average (.246) in the FSL while scoring the fewest runs (344) in the league.
THE MARAUDERS (34-62, 8-20, 6th South, 9.5 GB) ... Bradenton split four games with Clearwater on July 17-20. A 9-3 victory in the opener on July 17 snapped a nine-game losing streak by the Marauders who are 4-19 since June 25. The Marauders, who have been shutout 15 times this season, plays better at home than on the road, posting a 22-24 record at McKechnie Field versus a 12-38 away mark. Dan Gamache, who has played in the most games (96) of any player in the league, is tied for second with 97 hits while Taylor Lewis is tied for the league-lead with seven triples. On the downside, Willy Garcia has struck out 113 times, second most in the FSL, while Gamache has been punched out the fourth most times with 102. Bradenton has scored the fourth fewest runs (375) and has the second highest ERA (4.11) of any FSL team. The Marauders were involved in a 19-inning game on July 15, falling 3-2 to Tampa in a game that was tied 2-2 in the eighth. Bradenton had 20 hits in the contest.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
7/21 - Kevin Eichhorn (1-3, 3.48 ERA) ... Eichhorn was activated Sunday morning off the disabled list where he had been since April 26. His last start was back on April 25 at Daytona. In that game he allowed four runs on nine hits, including a pair homers, with four strikeouts and no walks. Eichhorn is 1-1 with a 3.00 in two previous road starts.
7/22 - LHP Kyle Ryan (9-6, 3.08 ERA) ... Ryan is 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA in his last four starts with 16 strikeouts and six walks. In his last start on July 13 at Fort Myers, he struck out five and walked one while holding the Miracle to one run on six hits in 6.0 innings. Ryan is 6-4 on the road this season with a 2.92 ERA. He had a no-decision against Bradenton on June 12, allowing two runs on six hits with six strikeouts in 5.0 innings.
7/23 - RHP Tommy Collier (0-2, 5.25 ERA) ... Collier lost his last start on July 17 at home against Palm Beach, allowing three runs, two earned, on four hits with three strikeouts and one walk in 5.0 innings. He is 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA in three road starts this season. He has not faced Bradenton this season.
7/24 - RHP Jeff Ferrell (3-5, 3.76 ERA) ... Ferrell is 0-1 with a 4.34 ERA over his last five starts with four straight no-decisions. He is 1-3 with a 5.12 ERA in eight road appearances, including six starts, while going 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA in 10 home games with eight starts. Ferrell has not faced Bradenton this season.
SEASON SERIES ... Lakeland won the first three of the four games played earlier this season on June 10-13. The opener was suspended in the fourth inning and the picked up the next night with Lakeland winning 4-1. The Flying Tigers emerged victorious 3-2 in game two as Danny Worth drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth. Steven Moya did the honors in game three with a walk-off homer – the third Lakeland homer of the game – for a 7-6 Lakeland win. Bradenton won 9-5 in 11 innings in the finale as Flying Tiger pitchers walked 13 batters.
CARDINALS 1, FLYING TIGERS 0, MOTHER NATURE 3 ... Lakeland was supposed to play Palm Beach in a four-game series this past few days, but wound up battling Mother Nature – and losing three games to rain. After falling 7-5 in the opening to the Cardinals, the Flying Tigers had the next two night’s games called due to rain. The finale got underway on Saturday, but once again, Mother Nature ruled and rains forced an end to the game in the bottom of the second inning. Since the two teams do not face each other the rest of the season, the three games will not be made up. Lakeland has now lost five games to the schedule this season after losing nine games in 2012.
EIGHT IS GREAT ... Devon Travis has eight hits in the last three games (8x15, .533) to bring his batting average to .407 in his 14 games played with the Flying Tigers. He brings an eight-game hit streak into the Bradenton series and is 15x35 (.429) since July 9 with seven runs scored, three doubles and three runs batted in. In seven road games this season, Travis is 14x33 with a .424 mark.
CRUISIN’ KRIZAN ... Jason Krizan has hits in his last five games including two hits in each of his last two games. He is 7x22 (.318) in those five games with a pair of doubles and has drawn a walk in each of the last four games. Krizan is the third toughest batter in the Florida State League to strike out with 9.59 plate appearances per strikeout.
JOLLY JEFF ... Jeff McVaney has hits in each of last four games and is 6x14 (.429) during that stretch with five runs scored and three more driven in.
UNLUCKY SEVEN ... Francisco Martinez saw his six-game hit streak come to a close in his last game on July 17. He is now 12x31 (.387) with five runs scored in his last seven games and has hits in 10 of his last 12 games for a 18x48 clip (.375) since July 6. Steven Moya also had a six-game hit streak snapped in his last game on July 17. He is now 13x28 (.464) with eight runs scored, four doubles, a triple, a homer, and five runs driven in.
WELCOME BACK ... Aaron Westlake is 6x23 (.261) with three runs scored and two more driven in since coming off the DL on July 12.
ROSTER SHUFFLE ... Pitcher Joe Rogers went back on the disabled list on Friday. The Winter Haven High graduate was originally on the DL from April 12-June 23 and had pitched just one game (April 7) in front of the hometown fans with his other six appearances coming on the road. Catcher Tim Remes joined Lakeland for the Palm Beach series, but was sent back to the GCL on Sunday to make room for pitcher Kevin Eichhorn was activated Sunday off the disabled list where he had been since April 26.
THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, a member of the 2012 Florida State League Hall of Fame Class, is in his 25th season as a minor league manager and is the active winningest manager in the minors with a 1,786-1,633 record entering the Bradenton 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 (Brewers) to a co-championship while his 2007 Clearwater (Phillies) squad won the crown outright. In addition, he coached the Lakewood Blue Claws (Phillies) to the 2006 South Atlantic League title.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland returns home after the Bradenton Series for an eight game homestand – the longest homestand of the year. The Flying Tigers will play St. Lucie July 25-28 and then face Charlotte July 29-August 1
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