Mission Notes vs. Brevard County (June 22-24)

THE SERIES ... After having the weekend off for the Florida State League All-Star Game, Lakeland returns to Joker Marchant Stadium June 22-24 for the final series of the first half. Lakeland entertains Brevard County for four games as the first night of this series is a doubleheader starting at 5 pm with the two clubs making up a rained out game from April 28. The next two nights are slated for 6:30 p.m.

SO FAR ... Brevard County has won five of the eight games played in three previous series this season. The Flying Tigers captured the first series, two games to one, but the Manatees have been victorious in four of the last five contests. Lakeland won the last meeting, 4-1, at Brevard County. Francisco Martinez is 11x28 (393) in seven games of the series while Javier Betancourt is 19x27 (.370), also in seven games. Tyler Hanover is 5x12 in three games against the Manatees.

THE FLYING TIGERS (30-36, 4th place, 6.5 GB) ... After dropping a season-high nine games, Lakeland snapped out of its slump to win three of the last four games at Charlotte, the first half winner in the South Division. The three wins propelled the Flying Tigers into fourth place with a 30-36 record. Lakeland is 11-20 at home.

THE MANATEES (29-37, 6th place, 7.5 GM) ... Brevard County lost a 2-1, 12-inning decision to Jupiter on June 18 and is 3-7 the last 10 games. The Manatees are 7.5 games out of first place and sport a 11-18 record in road games. Jorge Ortega is fourth in the league with a 1.78 ERA while Javier Salas is 10th with a 2.51 mark. Clint Coulter, who was the DH for the North All-Star squad, is tied for the league lead with 10 homers and is first with 111 total bases while Chris McFarland leads with 78 base hits. Omar Garcia has swiped the second most bases in the league with 25 while Garrett Cooper and Taylor Brennan are second with 19 doubles and 42 runs scored, respectively. Brennan also leads the league with 35 walks.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS

MON., 6/22 - GM 1 - LHP Locke St. John (2-5, 4.60 ERA) ... St. John is making his first start since June 14 at Dunedin when he was tagged for seven runs on four hits and four walks in just 2/3 of an inning. The loss was his third in a row and he is looking for his first win since May 17. 

MON., 6/22 - GM 2 – RHP Brennan Smith (2-0, 2.08 ERA) ... Smith is making his third start since leaving the bullpen with a 1-0 mark and one save with a 2.40 ERA in six relief appearances. He allowed just two hits in 5.0 shutout innings in his last start on June 16 at Charlotte. In his last four outings (two relief and two starts), Smith has allowed one earned run (two total) in 14.2 innings for a 0.61 ERA.

TUE., 6/23 – RHP Jonathan Maciel (2-6, 6.47 ERA) ... Maciel gave up four runs (two earned) on six hits in 5.0 innings in his last start on June 17 at Charlotte. In his last four starts he has surrendered 20 earned runs in 18.1 innings for a 9.82 earned run average. Maciel has struck out three batters in each of his last four starts. He is 0-2 with a 13.89 ERA in three previous starts vs. the Manatees.

WED., 6/24 – LHP Trent Szkutnik (0-1, 9.45 ERA) ... Szkutnik has made two very different starts for Lakeland since joining the club. In his Lakeland 2015 debut on June 13 at Dunedin, he was tagged for seven runs (six earned) in 1.2 innings. In start number two on June 18 at Charlotte, he held the first-half champion Stone Crabs to one run in 5.0 innings.

LET’S PLAY TWO, AND ONLY TWO ... In the Flying Tigers last two home doubleheaders on June 3 and June 10, they played a total of 43 innings. On June 3 against Tampa, Lakeland dropped game one, 2-0, in seven innings before winning game two, 2-1, after 16 frames. On June 10 against Fort Myers, game one went to the Miracle by a 2-1 score in 13 innings while game two was won by the Miracle, 7-3, in a more conventional seven innings. This is the sixth doubleheader for Lakeland in 2015. They have split three and were swept in two.

ALL-STAR WRAP ... Lakeland outfielder Ben Verlander and first baseman Dominic Ficociello played all nine innings for the North Division in the FSL All-Star Game Saturday at St. Lucie. Verlander, splitting time in right and center, had a pair of singles while Ficociello added a base hit as the two Flying Tigers accounted for half of the North Division’s six hits in a 6-0 loss.  Kevin Ziomek tossed a scoreless second inning, allowing one hit with one strikeout.

DING-DONGERS ... Brevard County is second in the FSL with 29 homers (three behind Tampa) while Lakeland is third with 28 dingers.

TAKING MOORE DEEP ... Raph Rhymes hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season in game one of Tuesday’s doubleheader at Charlotte. What made the home a little more special is that it came off Major Leaguer pitcher Matt Moore who is in Charlotte on a rehab assignment while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Rhymes has base hits in the last five games (6x19, .316).

DOM-INATING ... Dominic Ficociello is seventh in the Florida State League with a .293 average.

MIGHTY MARTINEZ ... Francisco Martinez has base hits in his last nine games and is 11x34 during the streak for a .324 average. He has three doubles, a triple and a homer during the last nine games and has driven in five runs and also scored five times.

BE-BOPPING BOBBY ... Bobby Borchering brings an eight-game hit streak into this series in which he was 10x28 for a .357 average with four doubles and three runs batted in. 

BEN THERE, DONE THAT ... Ben Verlander has collected a base hit in eight of his last nine games and is 9x33 during that stretch for a .273 average.

THE SKIPPER (thru 6/14) ... Flying Tigers manager Dave Huppert ranks 18th among minor league manager in terms of wins and has a 1,884-1,734 record entering tonight’s game. Huppert now trails Bruno Betzel who is in 16th place with a 1,887-1,892 record compiled from 1927-1956. 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 the Flying Tigers and has a 276-273 record, including a FSL championship in 2012. 

REAVES LEAVES ... Jared Reaves was activated from the disabled list last Tuesday and promoted to AA Erie. The shortstop began the season with Lakeland and had hits in each of his 10 games for a .289 average before going on the DL on April 23.

ROSTER MOVES ... Lakeland made three rosters moves on Friday, adding RHP Slade Smith from Double-A Erie, and assigning RHP Will Clinard to the Gulf Coast League Tigers. In addition, catcher Will Allen was sent to Connecticut in the New York-Penn League. Smith makes his second appearance with the Flying Tigers, having posted a 2-0 record with one save and a 2.08 ERA from May 4–June 16. He had no decisions at Erie with a 14.04 ERA in seven relief appearances. Finally, catcher Grayson Greiner was activated off the Disabled List on Sunday and rejoined the Flying Tigers.

UP NEXT ... The Flying Tigers get to roll back the season odometer to “0” as the second half of the season gets underway in their next series, June 25 at Tampa. It’s one of those quirk two-game sets with each club hosting a home game. Lakeland gets the second-half opener Thursday at 6:30 pm while Tampa plays host on Friday at 7 pm.