THE SERIES ... Lakeland closes out the 2015 season with a four-game series against Tampa with two games at home (Sept. 3-4) and the final two games of the season at Tampa (Sept. 5-6). These two clubs have split their 16-game season series with the Flying Tigers winning the last two games. The Yankees have taken seven of the eight games played at Joker Marchant Stadium while the Flying Tigers have won seven of the eight played at George Steinbrenner Field.
THE FLYING TIGERS (19-42, 6th place, 19.0 GB; 52-78-1 overall) ... Lakeland won the first two games of the Brevard County series, taking a doubleheader on Aug. 31, 2-1 and 3-1, while losing game three, 5-2. The Flying Tigers have gone 9-5 the last 14 games after posting a 4-29 record from July 10-27.
THE YANKEES (31-33, 3rd place, 8.5 GB; 52-78 overall) ... Tampa was swept in three games at Dunedin being outscored 15-7 in the series and is 5-8 since Aug. 19. Abiatal Avelino has hits in nine of the last 10 games and has gone 14x40 (.350) with eight runs scored since Aug. 20 while ranking third in the league with 38 stolen bases. Ericson Leonora is tied for second in the FSL with 13 homes, one behind the leader, Andrew Pullin of Clearwater. Gabriel Encinas is third in the league with 112 strikeouts while Chaz Hebert is tied with a FSL-best two complete games. The Yankees have perfect symmetry in the runs department, scoring 500 times while allowing 500 opponents to score. Tampa has stolen the second most bases (148) of any Florida State League team.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
THU., SEPT. 3 – RHP Brennan Smith (5-6, 3.08 ERA) ... Smith gave up three runs on seven hits in his last start on Aug. 28 with three strikeouts and one walk in taking the loss at Dunedin. In his last two starts, he has allowed just the three runs on ten hits in 12.0 innings pitched. Smith is 1-6 over his last nine starts. He struck out a career-high 10 batters on July 11 and then recorded six straight games with four strikeouts before whiffing a combined five batters over his last two outings. Smith is 0-1 in two appearances vs. Tampa.
FRI., SEPT. 4 – LHP Jairo Labourt (0-5, 7.45 ERA with Lakeland; 2-12, 5.35 ERA overall) ... Labourt is still looking for his first win as a member of the Flying Tigers and is 0-5 his last five starts. In his last outing on Aug. 29, he gave up four runs for a fifth time with Lakeland while matching his career-high of nine strikeouts. He last faced Tampa on Aug. 27 and took loss after allowing five runs on six hits, including a pair of homers, in 5.0 innings.
SAT., SEPT. 5 – RHP Jonathan Maciel (5-8, 4.68 ERA) ... Maciel picked up the win in his last start on Aug. 31 at Brevard County, limiting the Manatees to one run on seven hits in 6.0 innings. It was his second consecutive start of six innings and his second start with one run allowed. Maciel is 4-2 with a 3.69 ERA on 13 road starts while posting a 1-6 record and a 5.83 earned run average in 11 home starts. He is 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA in three starts vs. Tampa.
SUN., SEPT. 6 – LHP Kevin Ziomek (9-10, 3.51 ERA) ... Ziomek has won his last three starts by holding each opponent to just one run while recording a total of 16 strikeouts in the three games. He has worked at least 6.0 innings in each of his last six starts and is 4-1 with a 1.35 ERA and 40 strikeouts and 18 hits allowed during those half dozen games and 40.0 innings pitched. Ziomek is 1-2 with a 3.75 ERA in four starts vs. the Yankees.
STARTS AND ENDS WITH A “K” ... Kevin Ziomek leads the Florida State League with 140 strikeouts as well as 148.2 innings pitched. The 140 Ks is seven more than Amir Garrett of Daytona who is in second place with 133 strikeouts and is the second most strikeouts ever recorded by a Lakeland pitcher. Bernie Beckman set the franchise record with 152 strikeouts in 1970. Ziomek is gunning to be only the second Lakeland pitcher to league the league in strikeouts, joining Duane Below who became the first with 126 punchouts in 2008.
A HANOVER HI-LITE ... Tyler Hanover has hits in his last four games and in seven of his last eight outings, going 9x24 (.375) during that stretch. He is batting almost 100 points better on the road (.297) than at home (.200).
REAVES A-ROLLIN’ ... Jared Reaves has hit safely in six straight games going 8x22 (.364) with four runs batted in.
VERILY-VERLANDER ... Ben Verlander is going out in style with hits in four straight games (4x11) and seven of his last eight games (11x27, .407). He has also had at least one hit in 12 of his last 14 contests (16x48, .333).
RANK AND FILE ... Francisco Martinez is ranked in the top five in the Florida State League statistical rankings in: total bases (2nd, 195); extra-base hits (T-4th, 41); at bats (5th, 492); and doubles (5th, 28).
LEAGUE-LEADER ... Jiwan James remains tied with Fort Myers’ Jason Kanzler for the league lead with eight triples. James is attempting to become the first Lakeland player to lead the FSL in three-base hits since Curtis Granderson who had 10 triples to top the league in 2003. The modern day Lakeland record for triples is 14 set by Tarrick Brock in 1994. The FSL record is held by Pete Rose who hit an amazing 30 triples for the Tampa Tarpons (Reds) in 1961.
WHY TO GO, WHIT ... Whit Mayberry has not been scored upon in his last 7.1 innings and six outings.
SITZ TO BEHOLD ... Scott Sitz has allowed just three runs in 11 appearances and 20.0 innings since July 9 for a 1.35 ERA during that span.
DEUCES WILD ... Lakeland was held without a double in its last game, snapping a streak of seven straight games with at least one two-base hit. The Flying Tigers amassed 17 doubles in a five-game span from Aug. 27–31, including a season-high eight on Aug. 27 at Dunedin.
BULLISH-PEN ... Flying Tigers relievers have combined to hold opponents to seven runs in the last 13 games and 37.0 innings for a 1.70 ERA since Aug. 19. Five of those seven runs came in one game on Aug. 27 at Dunedin. Toss out that game and the staff would have a 0.57 ERA in that stretch.
$1 MONDAYS ARE A HIT ... Lakeland had 21 games this season with 1,000 or more fans in attendance—the most in the last at least the last seven seasons—with seven of those games coming on $1 Mondays. The Flying Tigers are on pace to finish the season with an attendance of 61,820 which would be the fourth highest in franchise history. The 981 average attendance this season would rank fifth best since 2009.
YOU LEAD, WE’LL FOLLOW ... In the 522 innings Lakeland has played since July 1, the Flying Tigers have been in the lead for just 110 frames.
THE SKIPPER (thru 8/29) ... Dave Huppert is in his 28th season and leads all active minor league managers with a 1,906-1,776-1 record and is now tied for 16th overall with Cal Ermer who compiled 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. Huppert picked up his 1,900th win on Aug. 21 when Lakeland topped Dunedin, 4-1. A 2012 FSL Hall of Fame honoree, This is Huppert’s fifth season with the Flying Tigers and he has a 298-315-1 record at Lakeland, including a FSL championship in 2012.
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