Thursday, May 21, 2015

Mission Notes vs. Bradenton (May 21-24)

THE SERIES ... The Flying Tigers will face Bradenton for the first time this season, hosting the Marauders for four games May 21-24. The first two games of the series are at 6:30 pm with the Saturday game at 5 pm as the Flying Tigers stage a Sunset Celebration following the game. The finale is set for Sunday, May 24 at 1 pm.

UP NEXT ... Lakeland has Monday, May 25 as an off day before heading on the road for four games at St. Lucie, May 26–29.

LAST SEASON ... Lakeland won the season series in 2014, taking five of the eight games. The Flying Tigers won three of the four played in Bradenton while the two teams split the four games in Lakeland. Three of five Lakeland wins were by 4-3 scores.

THE FLYING TIGERS (19-20, 3rd, 4.5 GB) ... Lakeland dropped two of three games at Daytona, losing both ends of the series in 11 innings. The Flying Tigers have alternated wins and losses their last six games and are 11-6 since May 3. Although the squad was shutout in Wednesday’s game, they have posted a .282 average in the last seven games with three doubles. Lakeland is 6-12 at home this season and 3-5 vs. the South Division.

THE MARAUDERS (20-20, 2nd, 6.0 game lead) ... Bradenton lost two of its three games against Fort Myers and has now been beaten in four of its last six games. The Marauders are 14-10 on the road and 5-3 vs. the North Division. Jin-De Jhang is third in the FSL with a .336 average while Austin Meadows and Wyatt Mathisen rank 8th and 10th with .315 and .312 averages, respectively. Meadows is also tied for third with 47 hits while JaCoby Jones and Jose Osuna are third and fourth in the league with 26 and 25 RBIs. Osuna is also tied for fourth with 14 extra base hits and fifth with 67 total bases. Bradenton is the top hitting team in the FSL with a .277 batting average and has scored the second most runs. The Marauders need that offense as the team pitching staff has the second worst ERA with a 3.96 mark.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/21 - RHP Tommy Collier (3-3, 1.90 ERA) ... Collier, who is 8th in the FSL with a 1.90 ERA, has been tagged with the loss in his last two starts despite holding his opponents to two runs in each contest. In his last start on May 16, he worked a season-high eight innings, limiting Dunedin to a pair of runs on six hits. Collier struck out four in the game for the third start in a row. He is 2-2 with a 1.75 ERA in four home starts this season. 
5/22 - LHP Locke St. John (2-2, 3.38 ERA) ... St. John got the win in his last start on May 17 after allowing a pair of unearned runs to Dunedin. He gave up just four hits in 6.0 innings of work and struck out four while walking two. In his last three starts, Collier has allowed just one earned run for a 0.56 ERA and is 2-0 in May with a 1.29 earned run average.
5/23 - LHP Kevin Ziomek (2-3, 5.94 ERA) ... Ziomek, who is second in the FSL with 53 strikeouts, did not factor in the decision in his last start on May 18 at Daytona, marking the first time in eight starts that has happened. Against the Tortugas, he went 7.1 innings and allowed four runs on four hits. In his last two starts, he has worked 15.1 innings and struck out eight in each contest. Ziomek is 1-2 with a 2.81 ERA in three home starts while posting a 3-1 record with a 4.09 ERA in five road starts.
5/24 - RHP Jonathan Maciel (2-3, 5.53 ERA) ... Marciel worked 4.1 innings in his last start on May 19 at Daytona and did not factor into the decision, despite holding the Tortugas to three runs—one earned—on five hits. He has allowed just the one earned run in his last 10.1 innings over two starts with five punchouts and five walks. Maciel is 2-1 on the road with a 3.41 ERA in six starts while posting a 0-2 mark at home with a 13.00 earned run average in two starts. 

TOP PICKS ... Bradenton outfielder Austin Meadows and catcher Reese McGuire were both picked in the first round of the 2013 draft by Pittsburgh. Meadows was compensatory pick and was chosen ninth overall while McGuire was the Pirates’ top pick, 14th overall, in the regular draft.

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END ... Javier Betancourt and Dominic Ficociello both saw their hitting streaks come to an end in the Daytona series. Ficociello was the first to go down as he was held hitless in the opening game of the series, stopping his streak at 12 games. He was 18x50 (.360) during his streak. Betancourt lasted until the final game of the Tortugas series, snapping his streak at 14 games. He was 20x79 for a .339 mark during the 14 contests.

WILD AND CRAZY GAME ... Lakeland turned down the Tortugas, 8-5, on the road Tuesday in game that had some strange happenings. Daytona led 1-0 thru four innings while the two teams combined for 11 runs in the next two innings. The Flying Tigers committed a season-high five errors that led to three unearned runs. Tim Remes had four hits—two more than he had in his first three games played—and was credited with an unassisted double play on a strike out and batter’s interference. To cap it off, home plate umpire Joe George ejected three participants, including Flying Tigers’ DH, Bobby Borchering.

HANDY HANOVER ... Tyler Hanover is 5x10 in his last three games played. In the middle game of the Daytona series, he had two doubles and drove in three runs.

PICKET FENCE ... Jiwan James has one hit in each of the last six straight games and in 12 of the last 13 games. His six-game hit streak is the longest active streak on the Flying Tigers. (Editor note: Jared Reaves has an 11-game hit streak going, but he is currently on the disabled list.)

FRANKLY FRANCISCO ... Francisco Martinez has hits in six of his last seven games and is 10x26 during that stretch for a .385 clip.

ROSTER MOVE ... Infielder Curt Powell was promoted to AA Erie on Tuesday with David Gonzalez coming up from West Michigan. Powell was second in the Florida State League with a .342 for Lakeland and had hits in 27 of his 33 games played this season, including 11 games with two or more hits. Gonzalez, who played five games for Lakeland in 2014, was hitting .286 for the Whitecaps and recorded nine multi-hit games.

THE SKIPPER (thru 5/20) ... Flying Tigers manager Dave Huppert ranks 17th among minor league manager in terms of wins and has a 1,890-1,757 record entering today’s game. Huppert now trails Cal Ermer who is in 16th place with a 1,906-1,728 record compiled from 1947-1984. Huppert is a 2012 FSL Hall of Fame honoree and is back for a 28th season as a minor league manager. He is in his fifth season with Lakeland and has a 282-295 record, including a FSL championship in 2012. 

Evan Chambers Memorial Game ... At Sunday’s series finale, the Flying Tigers will be celebrating the life of Evan Chambers, a former Lakeland High School standout and Pittsburgh Pirates prospect who died in his sleep on December 2013. There will be special pre-game ceremonies and well as the 7th inning stretch led by former Dreadnaught teammates. Chambers was a third-round pick of the Pirates in 2009 out of Hillsborough Community College.

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