THE SERIES ... All three games of this series will be played at Lakeland’s Joker Marchant Stadium. Game one is Saturday at 6 p.m. with game two Sunday at 1 p.m. The series finale is set for Monday at 6:30 p.m.
THE FLYING TIGERS (51-56, 21-18, 2nd, 2.5 GB) ... Lakeland brings a five-game win streak into this series after taking two from Dunedin at home on Wednesday and Thursday (Friday’s game was rained out). The Flying Tigers have won eight of their last ten outings and 16 of their last 24 games. Lakeland batters have stuck out the fewest times of any Florida State League team.
THE THRESHERS (55-56, 20-23, T-4th, 5.5 GB) ... Clearwater split two games in a recent home series against Dunedin with the third game rained out. The Threshers took the opener 6-5 in 10 innings with the Cubs extracting revenge in an 11-0 blowout the next night. Clearwater has now lost five of its last seven contests. Aaron Altherr is tied for the FSL lead with 32 doubles and is second with 48 extra-base hits while Carlos Alonso is third with 63 runs scored. Hoby Milner is tied with two others, including Lakeland’s Kyle Ryan, for the league lead with 10 wins while Perci Garner is tied for third with 95 strikeouts and is fourth with 119.2 innings pitched. Clearwater’s staff earned run average of 4.15 is highest in the league. One reason may be the fact that the Threshers have the top defense in the league with a .978 fielding percentage.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
8/10 - LHP Kyle Ryan (10-6, 2.85 ERA) ... Ryan became the FSL’s first 10-game winner of 2013 with a victory in his last start on Aug, 3 at Jupiter. His 2.85 ERA is fifth best in the FSL. He struck out six and held the Cardinals to one unearned run on four hits in 6.0 innings. Ryan has not allowed an earned run in his last 12.0 innings and given up just two runs total in his last 15.0 innings in three starts and is 4-1 with a 1.16 ERA in his last six starts since June 27. Ryan is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA in four starts against Clearwater with 19 strikeouts and just four walks in 22.0 innings.
8/11 - RHP Tommy Collier (2-2, 4.15 ERA) ... Collier gave up three runs on nine hits in his last start on Aug. 4 against Jupiter with four strikeouts and three walks. He is 2-2 with a 2.48 ERA in his last six starts since returning off the disabled list on July 6 and has lasted exactly 5.0 innings in each of his last five starts. Collier is 0-1 with a 2.25 ERA in his one previous start against the Threshers.
8/12 - RHP Jeff Ferrell (5-5, 3.77 ERA) ... Ferrell got the win in his last start on Aug, 5 against Jupiter despite allowing five runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings. He is just 2-0 in his last seven starts dating back to June 24 with a 4.07 ERA. During that stretch of seven games, he worked 6.0 or more innings in five starts. Ferrell is 0-0 with a 9.00 is his one previous start versus Clearwater.
SEASON SERIES ... Lakeland and Clearwater have battled 12 times this season with each club emerging as victors six times. The Flying Tigers won the first four while the Threshers have won six of the last eight. Lakeland has batted .298 in the series with Jeff McVaney leading the way with 13 hits in the 12 games. Tyler Hanover has 12 hits in 10 games and Jason Krizan also has 12 hits in his 12 games played versus Clearwater.
DEVINE DEVON ... Although he has “cooled off” a little in his last four games (5x18, .278), Devon Travis is still hitting for a .383 average in his 30 games played for the Flying Tigers. Against Dunedin on August 7, he went 4x5, including a pair of homers, for three runs scored and a career-high seven runs batted in. He is now batting .390 versus lefthanders and .380 against righties. Throw in his .352 average in 77 games at West Michigan and Travis has a .361 average – a mark that is fourth best among all minor league hitters this season. Heading into this series, he tops all Class A hitters.
VERILY VALDEZ ... Jose Valdez posted his 11th save in 12 opportunities with 1.0 inning pitched on Thursday. Coupled with 16 saves at West Michigan and Valdez is tied for third among all minor league relievers with 27 saves.
AMAZIN’ JASON ... Jason Krizan has seven hits his last four games (7x14) with two hits in a game three times. He has driven in at least one run in six straight games for a total of 11 RBI since July 30. Krizan is tied for eighth in the Florida State League with a .288 batting average.
FRANKLY FRANCISCO ... Francisco Martinez has seven hits in his last four games as well with five runs scored and seven more runs batted in. He has three doubles and a triple in the four games as well. He is batting .307 in 23 home games and .303 in 28 road games.
SNAPPED ... Luis Sanz saw his eight-game hit streak come to a close on August 7 as he was held hitless in three at bats. He was 12x28 during the streak for a .429 clip with six runs scored and six RBI. Sanz is batting .300 (21x70) in 22 away games, but is hitting .200 (15x75) in 23 home games.
A TWO-FER NIGHT ... Chad Wright has had two or more hits in 10 of his last 18 games and has scored at least one run in 10 of the last 11 games, including a four-tally night on August 7 against Dunedin.
STAY-CATION ... Dixon Machado is batting .271 (13x48) in 12 games played at Joker Marchant Stadium but just .155 (9x58) in 13 road games.
BOMBS AWAY ... Devon Travis and Aaron Westlake each clubbed a pair of homers on August 7 as the Flying Tigers thrashed the Blue Jays 19-6, scoring the most runs since a 21-0 blanking of the Kissimmee Astros on April 29, 1996. Travis finished with four hits on the night for a career-high seven runs batted in. Westlake added four RBI while Steven Moya had three hits and three runs knocked in. Francisco Martinez got into the act with three hits of his own as Lakeland totalled 15 hits on the night, including five doubles, a triple, and the aforementioned four homers.
NEXT LEVEL POWER ... Four former Flying Tigers rank 2nd through 5th among Detroit minor leaguers in home runs. Tyler Collins is second with 17 homers for Double-A Erie while a trio of Toledo hitters are next in Ben Guez (16), Jordan Lennerton (15) and Nick Castellanos (13).
DRIVE ‘EM IN ... Flying Tiger Devon Travis is fifth in the Detroit organization with a combined 61 runs batted in while Erie’s Tyler Collins is third with 67 RBI and Toledo’s Nick Castellanos is fourth with 64 runs driven in.
LET’S PLAY TWO (A LOT) ... It’s an Ernie Banks type of a close to the regular season with the Flying Tigers as the club has four doubleheaders currently scheduled over the final three weeks of the season. The first takes place Tuesday, Aug. 13 at Dunedin as the two clubs make up Friday’s night rain out in Lakeland. The second twin-bill takes place Saturday, Aug. 17 in Lakeland as the Flying Tigers and Yankees pick up their suspended game from July 4. The third doubleheader is also in Lakeland against Brevard, a make-up of a rained out game on July 1. The fourth two-fer is at home, again against Tampa, making up a July 5 rain out.
THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, a member of the 2012 FSL 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 1,796-1,649 record entering the Jupiter 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 ... The Flying Tigers head to Dunedin for four games on April 13-15 and then play at Tampa for one contest on Aug. 16 before returning to Lakeland on Aug. 17 for one game.
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