THE SERIES ... Lakeland returns home to face Tampa for three games in two days and then plays to in Tampa. Sunday’s opener is at 1 pm with Monday’s doubleheader set for 5 pm. Tuesday and Wednesday are 7 pm starts in Tampa. The Flying Tigers, who hold a 6-5 advantage in the season series, have won the last two meetings after the two clubs alternated wins for the first ten games of the series. Jiwan James has a team-best 14 hits against the Yankees, including a pair of homers for seven runs batted in. Lakeland is batting just .205 as a team in the series.
THE FLYING TIGERS (10-34, 6th place, 18.0 GB; 43-70-1 overall; 21 games remaining) ... Lakeland split two games at Daytona, winning the opener 3-0 and then dropping game two, 3-2. The third game was rained out and will not be made up. The Flying Tigers’ last two wins have both been by shutouts as the team downed Clearwater 8-0 on Aug. 4 before dropping eight straight. The team has finally reached double digits in wins, taking the longest any Lakeland club has taken to win its 10th game of any half in at least 20 seasons. The Flying Tigers are now 5-28 dating back to July 7. Lakeland has scored three or fewer runs in 65 of the team’s 114 games this season. In the 382 innings the team has played since July 1, the Flying Tigers have been in the lead for just 70 frames. Lakeland has scored the fewest runs of any full season minor league club (378) and has the second lowest batting average (.237) in the Florida State League.
THE YANKEES (23-25, 3rd place, 7.0 GB; 57-61 overall) ... Tampa also split the first two games of its most recent series, losing to Clearwater, 6-4, in game one and then winning game two, 5-1. Game three was rained out. The Yankees have won four of its last six games. Tampa is on the outside looking in on the postseason. The Yankees currently has the third best record in the North Division and would need either Clearwater to win out and then post a better overall record than Daytona to get a wild card spot, or overtake both the Threshers and Tortugas and win the second half. Ericson Leonora is one of three players tied for the FSL lead with 12 homers while Abiatal Avelino is tied for third with 32 steals.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS (HOME SERIES)
SUN, AUG. 16 – RHP Brennan Smith (4-4, 2.72 ERA) ... Smith allowed a pair of runs on three hits through 6.0 innings in his last start on Aug 11 against Clearwater. It was his second game in a row giving up two runs while he struck out four batters for a fifth consecutive game. In his last three starts, Smith has a 3.32 ERA with 12 strikeouts, but is 0-2 for his efforts. He has made one relief appearances against the Yankees working 4.0 shutout innings on June 3. This is his first daytime start.
MON., AUG. 17 (GM 1) – LHP Jairo Labourt (0-2, 7.36 ERA with Lakeland; 2-9, 5.02 ERA overall) ... Labourt has surrendered four runs in each of his three starts with Lakeland. He has struck out 13 and walked nine in 14.2 innings and given up 22 hits over his three outings. Labourt has not registered a win since June 8 when he beat Charlotte as a member of the Dunedin Blue Jays. He has not faced Tampa this season with either Dunedin or Lakeland.
TUE., AUG. 18 (GM 2) – TBA
FLYING Z ... With his eight strikeouts in last Friday’s contest, Kevin Ziomek increased his FSL lead with 124 strikeouts on the season. The 124 also moved Ziomek into a tie for the fourth most in Lakeland history. The southpaw matched Richard Monteleone’s total in 1983. The Lakeland record of 134 strikeouts was set by Rich Lacko in 1987 and equaled by Jordan Tata in 2005. Ziomek is shooting to become just the second Lakeland pitcher to lead the league in strikeouts since Duane Below became the first with 126 in 2008. Ziomek also is tied the league lead with 23 games started and 129.2 innings pitched.
OTHER FSL LEADER? ... Francisco Martinez enters this series ranked second in the Florida State League with 175 total bases and trails the Bradenton’s Austin Meadows who sits atop the standings with 177. Martinez saw a seven-game hit streak snapped in last night’s game. He was 10x29 during the stretch for a .345 average with three games with two hits in each.
THE MAGICAL 70s ... Friday’s loss at Daytona was Lakeland’s 70th of the season, marking the second consecutive season and the sixth time in the last nine years the club has lost 70 or more games. The franchise record for futility came in 1984 when Lakeland finished with a 46-98 record.
BAKER’S DOZEN ... It took him to his last at bat to get it, but Curt Powell extended his hit streak to 13 games with a single in the top of the ninth of last night’s game. He is 20x53 (.377) during those 13 contests with six runs scored and four runs batted in. Powell, who has 18x42 (.428) his last 11 games, has played all four infield positions with seven starts at first base and is 11x27 (.407) during those starts.
TREY-BIEN ... Jiwan James took over the league lead with his eighth-inning triple last night. His seven triples is the most for a Flying Tiger since Gustavo Nunez also hit seven triples in 2011. The modern-day Lakeland record for three-baggers is 14 set by Tarrik Brock in 1994. The Florida State League record is an incredible 30 by Pete Rose in 1961 for the Tampa Tarpons. James now has hits in 12 of his last 16 games and has two or more hits in nine of those contests, including a two-hit game on last night. James is now 24x67 (.358) in his last 16 games.
QUICK HITS ... Greyson Greiner is 15x91 (.163) with 30 strikeouts over his last 27 games ... Tyler Hanover is 4x28 (.143) over his last eight games. He is batting .294 on the road with a .183 mark at home ... Drew Longley, who is on the Temporary Inactive List, is 2x17 (.117) his last four games, but one of those hits was a two-run homer in Wednesday’s 10-5 loss to Clearwater ... Jared Reaves is 6x26 (.231) his last five games ... Raph Rhymes is 6x36 (.167) the last eight games ... Ismael Salgado is 3x26 (.115) his last nine games with nine strikeouts ... Ben Verlander is now 5x41 (.122) over his last 11 games with 13 strikeouts.
THE BULLPEN ... Will Clinard has held opponents to one or zero runs in all but one outing this season (and just two runs in that one stint). He has allowed just two runs in his last 13.2 innings over five appearances and just four talliers in his last 22.0 innings and nine outings ... Calvin Drummond has given up three runs—one earned—in his last six appearances with 15.0 innings with 14 strikeouts and one walk ...Tyler Ford had not allowed a run in his first seven outings, but has given up five runs in his last three appearances (4.1 innings) ... Gabe Hemmer picked up his first save of his Lakeland tenure last night and has now given up just one run in eight appearances and 18.1 innings as a Flying Tiger with 18 strikeouts and three walks ... Whit Mayberry had allowed just one run in his first 19.2 innings and nine outings with Lakeland ... Scott Sitz has been scored upon just one in his last 15.1 innings and eight outings with 13 strikeouts and three walks (all three in one game that included a pair of intentional walks) ... nine of Adenson Verastegui’s 10 earned runs allowed came in a stretch of four outings from July 7-21, with just one run allowed in his other 10 appearances.
CLINCHED LOSING RECORD ... With 21 games remaining, the best Lakeland could finish the second half would be 31-34, guaranteeing the Flying Tigers will post a losing record in the final half for the 15th time in the last 18 seasons. Over the same 18 years, Lakeland had a winning record in 11 first halves.
THE SKIPPER (thru 8/15) ... Dave Huppert ranks 17th among minor league manager in terms of wins with an 1,897-1,768-1 record entering this series. Next up for Huppert is Cal Ermer who is in 16th place with a 1,906-1,728 record from 1947-1984. A 2012 FSL Hall of Fame honoree, Huppert is in his 28th season as a minor league manager. This is his fifth season with the Flying Tigers and he has a 289-307-1 record at Lakeland, including a FSL championship in 2012.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland’s next series if Aug. 20-22 at home vs. Dunedin.
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