THE SERIES ... Lakeland leads the season series by a 9-6 margin and has won four of the five series this season. Each team has a series sweep with the Blue Jays winning three games on June 13-14 while the Flying Tigers returned the favor July 4-6. Lakeland has won five of the last six meetings. The July 5 game was the longest game in the minors at that point with the Flying Tigers coming out on top 2-1 in 21 innings (The GCL Blue Jays beat the Tigers 6-5 in a game that lasted 24 innings and was played over three days due to rain).
THE FLYING TIGERS (16-39, 6th place, 18.0 GB; 49-75-1 overall) ... Lakeland emerged victorious in two of the three games against Brevard County despite scoring a total of four runs in the series. The Flying Tigers have now won six of their last eight games after going 4-29 from July 10-27.
THE BLUE JAYS (23-24, 5th place, 12.0 GB; 55-72 overall) ... Dunedin lost two of three at Tampa, including the final two games of the series. The Blue Jays have now lost seven of their last nine games. Matt Dean is fourth in the FSL with 30 extra base hits, but is also fourth with 133 strikeouts. Dunedin is second in the league with 55 homers, but is greatly outdistanced by Daytona’s FSL-best 75 dingers. The Blue Jays pitching staff has a league-high 3.87 earned run average while allowing a FSL-high 554 runs. Dunedin pitchers have struck out the second most opponents (961) of any league team.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
THU., AUG. 27 – LHP Endrys Briceno (1-2, 3.54 ERA) ... Briceno gave up one unearned run in 5.0 inning of three-hit ball in his last start on Aug. 20 vs. Dunedin (his only appearance vs. the Blue Jays). It was his first win since July 31, 2013 as he has spent most of the last two seasons on the DL following Tommy John surgery. Briceno has twice worked a season-high 5.0 innings this season and struck out a season-high four batters in his second start on July 30.
FRI., AUG. 28 – RHP Brennan Smith (5-5, 2.96 ERA) ... Smith had his best start of the season in his last outing on Aug. 21, working 7.0 scoreless innings of three-hit ball against the Blue Jays. That game came on the heels of his worst outing of the season, a nine-hit, six-run, 5.0 inning performance on Aug. 16 against Tampa. He is 2-1 with one save and a 2.48 ERA in 10 appearances, including five starts on the road. Smith is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in three starts vs. the Blue Jays.
SAT., AUG. 29 – LHP Jairo Labourt (0-4, 7.50 ERA with Lakeland; 2-11, 5.26 ERA overall) ... Labourt gave up six runs—only three earned—on six hits in 4.1 innings on Aug. 22 in his first start against his former teammates. He has allowed three or more earned runs in each of his five outings with the Flying Tigers. His five strikeouts on the 22nd match his Lakeland-high. Left-handed batters are lighting up Labourt for a .378 batting average.
FRANCHISE OF THE CLOSER ... Dunedin’s Wil Browning currently leads the Florida State League with 20 saves. He is attempting to become the fourth Blue Jays pitcher to lead the league in saves in the last five seasons joining Arik Sikula (31, 2014); Danny Barnes (34, 2012) and Wes Etheridge (32, 2010).
BAT CHILL ... These two clubs have not exactly been burning up the stat sheets in terms of team batting average. Lakeland, which has scored a league-low 403 runs, is 11th in the FSL with a .237 average while Dunedin is last with a .235 mark. The Blue Jays rank 11th with 72 stolen bases while the Flying Tigers are far behind with a league-low 56 stolen bases.
BEN THERE, DONE THAT ... Ben Verlander has two hits in each of the last two games (4x7) and has hits in seven of his last eight games (9x28, .321) with two doubles, a homer, and five runs batted in. Verlander also has hits in 10 of his last 12 games (14x33, .302) dating back to Aug. 13.
WHERE’S JIWAN? ... Jiwan James has not played since going 2x3 in the Aug, 21 Dunedin game.
THE Z-MAN ... Kevin Ziomek once again took over the FSL lead with five strikeouts in last night’s six-inning, rain-shortened, complete game. The Lakeland lefty held the Manatees to one run on three hits to get the win while his five Ks gave him 133 on the season to move him ahead of Daytona’s Amir Garrett, who has 131. Ziomek now sits in third place on the Lakeland single-season strikeout list, tied with Dennis Sauders (1968) and one behind Rich Lacko (1987) and Jordan Tata (2005). The franchise record 152 strikeouts was set by Bernie Beckman in 1970.
POWELL-ERFUL ... Curt Powell brings a six-game hit streak into this series, going 8x21 (.381) with three runs scored. He has a .388 batting average at Joker Marchant Stadium, but is hitting just .239 on the road.
HAPPY TO SEE YA ... Javier Betancourt went hitless in 10 at bats in the three-game Brevard County Series on Aug. 23-25 while against Dunedin on Aug. 20-22, it was a different story. The Lakeland second baseman collected six hits, including three doubles and a triple, in 11 at bats while scoring three runs against the Blue Jays.
WILL TO POWER ... Will Clinard has allowed two runs in his last 16.2 innings over seven appearances with 15 strikeouts and zero walks. He has given up four runs in his last 25.0 innings with 19 strikeouts and just a pair of walks.
MAYBERRY, E.R.A. ... Whit Mayberry has not allowed a run in his last four outings and 4.2 innings and just two earned run in his last 14.2 innings with 14 strikeouts and four walks. On the season, he has surrendered just three runs in 24.2 innings with 24 strikeouts and seven walks.
SITZ TO BEHOLD ... Scott Sitz has given up three runs in his last 18.1 innings and 10 appearances with 15 punchouts and five walks.
MAKE IT MEMORABLE ... Gage Smith made his debut on Aug. 23 against Brevard County a night to remember. Coming on in relief, Smith held the Manatees to two hits in 4.0 shutout innings to get the win.
ADDA-BOY ... Adenson Verastegui has given up one run in his last 8.1 innings over five appearances with seven strikeouts and five hits.
YOU LEAD, WE’LL FOLLOW ... In the 472 innings Lakeland has played since July 1, the Flying Tigers have been in the lead for just 98 frames.
THE SKIPPER (thru 8/25) ... Dave Huppert is in his 28th season and leads all active minor league managers with a 1,903-1,773-1 record and ranks 17th among all-time minor league managers. Next up for Huppert on the all-time win list is Cal Ermer who is in 16th place with a 1,906-1,728 record from 1947-1984. Ironically, Huppert played under Ermer in 1981 when the two were with Toledo, a Triple-A affiliate at that time of the Minnesota Twins. A 2012 FSL Hall of Fame honoree, This is Huppert’s fifth season with the Flying Tigers and he has a 295-312-1 record at Lakeland, including a FSL championship in 2012.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland continues its six-game road trip with three games at Brevard County, Aug. 30-Sept. 1 before enjoying the final off day of the season on Sept. 2. The Flying Tigers then return to Joker Marchant Stadium for the final two home games of the season on Sept. 3-4 against Tampa. The 2015 campaign concludes Sept. 5-6 at Tampa.
FICOCIELLO HONORED ... Former Flying Tiger Dominic Ficociello was named the Eastern League Player of the Week for the week ending Aug. 23. The former first baseman was 12x30 (.600) for the week with three doubles, two triples and 10 RBI. He was batting .337 at Erie with 22 RBI in his first 29 games at Double-A.
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