THE SERIES ... The Flying Tigers have Monday, Aug. 19 as an off day before opening a three-night, four-game, homestand against Brevard County. The two clubs will play a doubleheader on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 5 pm to make up a rained out game from July 1. The Aug. 21 and 22 games will be at 6:30 pm. Following this homestand, Lakeland has just two home dates (four games) left on Aug. 30-31.
THE FLYING TIGERS (55-62, 25-24, 2nd, 5.0 GB) ... Lakeland is looking to snap out of a funk that has seen the team drop five of the last six games including two games to Tampa over the weekend (the suspended game won by the Flying Tigers on Saturday—and all of its statistics—actually counts as having taken place on July 4 when the game began). Lakeland has scored two or fewer runs in each of those five losses while the one win was a 14-9 victory on Aug. 15 at Dunedin. Clearwater has won five straight and now is just 1/2 game behind Lakeland in the standings. Jason Krizan is sixth in the Florida State League with a .295 batting average and fourth with a .392 on-base percentage.
THE MANATEES (61-60, 5th, 8.5 GB) ... Brevard County lost two of three games to Daytona over the weekend and has now lost six of its last nine games. Nick Ramirez is tied for second in the Florida State League with 18 home runs, but has not gone deep since July 14. He also ranks third with 201 total bases; fourth with 74 runs batted in; fifth with 44 extra-base hits and has struck out a league-high 156 strikeouts. Brett Suter is fourth in the FSL with a 3.14 ERA while Tommy Toledo is tied for third with 16 saves. The Manatees are hitting .241 as a team, the lowest team batting average in the Florida State League, and have scored the fewest runs of any league team. Ironically, the club has hit the second most homers in the FSL.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
8/20 (GM1) - RHP Kevin Eichhorn (2-5, 3.59 ERA) ... Eichhorn did not factor into the decision in his last outing on Aug. 14 despite allowing just one run on three hits with six strikeouts. He came on in relief in that game of Octavio Dotel, who made a MLB rehab start, and was tagged with four runs on five hits in just 0.2 innings. Eichhorn is 1-1 with a 3.47 in his last four appearances (including three starts).
8/20 (GM2) - TBA
8/21 - LHP Kyle Ryan (11-6, 3.16) ... Ryan got the win in his last start on Aug. 15 at Dunedin despite tying his season-high with seven runs allowed—six earned—on eight hits in 5.0 innings as he left the game with a 12-7 lead. He is 8-2 in his last 14 starts with a 2.97 ERA. Ryan ranks fifth in the FSL with a 3.16 ERA and is tied for the league leading with 11 wins. He also ranked fifth with 128.0 innings pitched.
8/22 - RHP Tommy Collier (2-3, 4.78 ERA) ... Collier allowed a season-high six runs and nine hits in 5.0 innings in his last start on Aug. 16 at Tampa. He is now 0-1 with a 6.60 ERA in his last three starts since posting his last win on July 28. Collier has worked exactly 5.0 innings in each of his last seven outings.
SEASON SERIES ... Lakeland has managed just two wins in 11 tries against Brevard County, the last coming on June 29 in a 5-4, 11-inning contest. The Manatees have posted three shutouts in the series, including an 8-0, six-inning blanking in a rain-shortened game on June 30—the two clubs’ last meeting. Brevard County has outscored Lakeland 56-33 in the series and has hit 11 homers in the 11 games as compared to three by Lakeland.
STRONG ARMS ... Since May 21, the Lakeland trio of Jeff Ferrell, Wilsen Palacio and Kyle Ryan has combined for a 18-9 record and a 2.90 ERA. The threesome rank in the top four in the Florida State League in terms of earned run average during that time with Ferrell (6-2) and Palacios (4-5) tied for second with a 2.86 mark and Ryan (8-2) close behind with a 2.97 ERA.
STEADY DOES IT ... Jason Krizan has hits in 11 of his last 12 games, including the last five, and is 16x40 (.400) during that stretch dating back to Aug. 4.
TRAVIS HANGS AT #5 ... Devon Travis enters this series tied with Jupiter’s Brett Keys for fifth among all minor league batters with a combined .353 batting average between Lakeland and West Michigan. The duo sit atop all Class A players (advanced A and low A).
RARE PINCH-HITTER ... Aaron Westlake stepped to the plate to pinch hit for catcher Adolfo Reina on Saturday in the suspended July 4 game. With bases loaded, Westlake cleared them with a triple to lift Lakeland to a 10-8 victory. It was just the second pinch-hit appearance by a Flying Tiger this season. Ironically, Westlake was the first Flying Tiger to be pinch hit for when he left the May 11 game for catcher Luis Sanz after an injury.
SNAPPED ... Chad Jones saw his seven-game hitting streak snapped on August 16 in his only appearance during the Tampa series. During the streak, he was 12x24 (.500) with five runs scored, four doubles and three runs batted in. He is now 12x27 (.444) his last eight games played.
NEW CREW MEMBER ... Lakeland added another pitcher on Saturday as former Flying Tiger Michael Morrison rejoined the club from AA Erie. Morrison, who played in Lakeland in 2010 and 2011, was 3-3 with a 7.13 ERA in 30 relief appearances for the SeaWolves.
FINALLY PLAYED ... Way back on July 4, the Flying Tigers were set to entertain the Yankees in a celebration of our nation’s birthday. What they got instead was a lot of rain, forcing the game to be delayed for three hours and nine minutes before getting underway only to be suspended after just two batters. When the game resumed on Aug. 17, Mother Nature was again an uninvited guest, causing another 2:02 in delays for a total of 5:11. The game itself took 3:08 to play (much of it played in the rain) forcing the second game, which would have started at 10 pm to postponded to Aug. 31, as the two clubs were scheduled to meet the next day 1 pm.
LOTSA BASEBALL AT THE END ... With the postponement of the second game to Aug. 31, the Flying Tigers will close out the season with six games against the Tampa Yankees in four days, including back-to-back doubleheaders at home on Friday, Aug. 30 at 5 pm and Saturday, Aug. 31 at 4 pm. The Flying Tigers are 4-10 in doubleheaders this season. They have won both games of a twin bill just once while being swept in four dual events. The have split two doubleheaders.
THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, a member of the 2012 FSL Hall of Fame Class, is in his 26th season as a minor league manager and is the active winningest manager in the minors with a 1,800-1,655 record entering the Tampa series. He is just the 21st minor league manager to record 1800 or more wins. 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.
MINOR LEAGUES, SMALL WORLD ... Lakeland manager Dave Huppert won his 1,800th game on Aug. 17. One of the managers he is ahead of on the list of winningest minor league managers is Doc Edwards who was Huppert’s coach at Rochester, the Orioles’ AAA affiliate. In 1981, Rochester battled Pawtuckett for 33 innings—the longest game in professional baseball history—with Huppert catching 31 innings of the game. Also in that game were future MLB Hall of Famers Cal Ripken (Rochester) and Wade Boggs (Pawtuckett). The fourth winningest manager in the minor leagues is former Lakeland skipper John Lipon who racked up 2,185 wins, including 379 in five seasons with Lakeland from 1988-92.
UP NEXT ... Following this series, Lakeland heads west to play three games against Clearwater on Aug. 23-25 and then travels to the east coast for a final rematch against Brevard County on Aug. 27-29.
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