THE SERIES .... These two clubs open their three-game set with a 7:05 pm game at Daytona on Saturday before returning to Lakeland for the first Sunday afternoon game. (1 pm start). The series concludes Monday at 10:30 a.m. at Joker Marchant Stadium in the first of two Education Days hosted by the Flying Tigers. All three games can be heard on the Cub’s internet broadcasts. Visit www.daytonacubs.com for details.
THE FLYING TIGERS (10-9, 2nd place, 5.0 GB) ... Lakeland is coming off a series win over North Division leading Dunedin. After dropping the first game, the Flying Tigers powered back with 9-6 and 6-4 wins. Lakeland has now won two in a row and four of their last five and has climbed into second place in the North Division. The club is tops in the FSL with a .280 batting average, some 21 points higher than the next team and is tied with two other teams for second with 92 runs scored. The Flying Tigers are also the top basestealing team with 29 swipes. Lakeland has a 3.58 staff ERA to rank fifth in the league.
THE CUBS (6-15, 6th place, 10.0 GB) ... Daytona fell 4-3 at Clearwater on Friday, losing for the second straight game and fourth time in the last five games. The Cubs rank seventh in the league with a .242 average and are tied with Lakeland and St. Lucie with 92 runs scored. Daytona has the highest earned run average in the league with a 4.36 mark. Rubi Silva leads the Cubs with a .328 average (which ranks fifth in the FSL) while John Andreoli is second with a .308 mark (and ranks third in the FSL with a .446 on-base percentage. Greg Rohan has hit the most homers of anyone in the league with five while also leading with 23 runs batted in and ranking third with .537 slugging percentage. Matt Szczur has swiped a league-leading 11 bases and is tied for the FSL lead with 18 runs scored.
PROBABLE STARTERS
4/28 - LAK: Jacob Turner (0-0, 0.00) ... Jacob Turner is making his second start of the season after shutting down in spring training with tendonitis in his throwing shoulder. In his first start on April 23 at Daytona, Turner threw 4.0 no-hit shutout innings at the Cubs.
4/29 - LAK: Kevin Eichhorn (1-1, 4.22) ... Kevin Eichhorn earned his first win of 2012 on April 24 against Daytona in Lakeland, working 6.1 innings. He allowed three runs on nine hits, but struck out five and walked just one. This will be just the second home start for Eichhorn who has three road starts.
4/30 - LAK: Brian Flynn (1-3, 4.43) ... After opening the season with three straight wins, Brian Flynn tasted defeat for the first time in his last outing on April 25 at home versus Daytona. The Cubs tagged Flynn for five earned runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings. Flynn entered that game with a 3-0 mark and a 0.92 ERA.
THIS YEAR ... Lakeland won two of three games earlier this season, splitting the two games in Daytona (2-6 and 7-2) and winning in Lakeland 13-5. Nick Castellanos led the Flying Tigers with a 6x13 series driving in four runs while Avisail Garcia was 5x13 with three RBI. James Robbins hit two solo homers for Lakeland on April 24. Rubi Silva and Matthew Szczur each had four hits for the Cubs in the series.
SCORING BIG ... Although four runs may not sound like a lot, Lakeland is 8-2 when crossing the plate four or more times in a game. When the Flyings are held to three runs or less, their record drops to 2-7. In games in which the Lakeland pitchers have allowed four or more runs the team is 2-7. When holding foes to three or less runs, the record is 7-1.
TOP THREE ... Lakeland boasts the top three hitters in the Florida State League in Nick Castellanos (.413), Avisail Garcia (.384) and Tyler Collins (.356). Castellanos and Garcia have traded the league lead over the past three games with Castellanos retaking the lead after a 4x5 effort on Friday. The Flying Tiger third baseman leads the FSL with 31 hits, eight doubles and a .560 slugging percentage while ranking second with a .452 on-base percentage and third with 42 stolen bases. Garcia is second in the FSL with 28 base knocks, fourth with a .430 on-base percentage, and fifth with a .507 slugging mark. Collins is fifth with a .427 mark.
CLAWING AT THE PLATE ... The Flying Tigers must think the baseball coming across home plate is the size of a grapefruit as the club has rapped on 81 hits (245 AB) over the last seven games for a .331 clip.
EIGHT IS GREAT ... Nick Castellanos went 4x5 in Friday’s game to extend his hit streak to eight games. The Flying Tiger third baseman is 15x32 during the streak for a .469 tear with six doubles and seven runs batted in. Castellanos has hit in 18 of Lakeland’s 19 games this season.
ANOTHER AT EIGHT ... Avisail Garcia has also hit safely in his last eight games including five games with two or more hits. The 20-year old outfielder is 14x33 for a .424 average with two doubles, a triple and a pair homers. He has also scored eight runs and driven in seven runs.
COOL COLLINS ... Tyler Collins has hit safely in his last five games with nine hits (22 AB), including four doubles, for a .409 mark.
DANDY DAN ... Although he was a last minute line-up scratch on Friday, Daniel Fields has hits in five straight games with two doubles, a triple and four stolen bases. He is second in the FSL with eight stolen bases.
JAMES McCANN CAN ... Catcher James McCann has hits in each of his last four games and is 9x15 for a hefty .600 average with three doubles and two stolen bases for six runs scored in that span.
TWIN-BAGGERS ... Lakeland has hit at least two doubles in seven of the last eight games and has 22 doubles in those seven contests.
TO THE VICTOR GOES THE WIN ... Reliever Victor Larez tossed four shutout innings at Dunedin on Friday to pick up his first win of the season. The 6-foot-3 righthander struck out a season-high six batters and held the Blue Jays to just two hits.
CLOSING IN ON 1700 ... Flying Tiger manager Dave Huppert is in his second season with Lakeland and his 24th season as a minor league manager. He brings a 1,682-1,544 record into the Daytona series.
ALUMNI SHUFFLIN’ ... On Thursday, Brayan Villarreal and Luke Putkonen were both called up to the majors while Adam Wilk and Thad Weber were sent down to Toledo. Rawley Bishop, who was hitting .293 with AA Erie, has earned a trip to AAA Toledo on April 27 to take the roster spot vacated with Brad Eldred’s addition to the big league roster. In addition, Brent Wyatt, has announced his retirement. Wyatt had played in the Tigers’ organization since 2008 including two seasons in Lakeland in 2010 and 2011.
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