THE SERIES .... Lakeland returns home after a seven-game road trip in which the team was 4-3. All four games of this series against the Charlotte Stone Crabs will be played at Joker Marchant Stadium with games 1-3 starting at 6:30 and the finale on Friday getting underway at 7:11 p.m.
UP NEXT ... The Flying Tigers go back on the road for a three-game series at Brevard County on June 9-11. Saturday’s and Monday’s games get underway at 6:36 pm with Sunday’s first-pitch scheduled for 5:05 pm.
THE FLYING TIGERS (28-27, 3rd, 9.0 GB) ... Lakeland has won five of its last eight games and is coming off a 3-1 series at Jupiter in which the Flying Tigers outscored the Hammerheads 28-12 including a pair of 10-run wins. Lakeland is batting .311 the last five games with 16 doubles and is second in the league with a .266 team batting average and the second fewest home runs of any FSL squad. The Flying Tigers pitching staff has the third highest ERA of any league team with a 4.16 mark.
THE STONE CRABS (24-31, 5th, 19.0 GB) ... An affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Stone Crabs have lost three in a row and dropped ten of their last 12 games. C.J. Riefenhauser is tied with four others for most wins in the league with six and is third with 67 strikeouts while Chris Rearick is tied for fourth with 10 saves. Albert Suarez threw a two-hit, seven inning, shutout on June 2 to become the first pitcher in the Florida State League to hurl a complete game this season. Derek Dietrich is tied for third in the league with 24 extra base hits and tied for second with six triples. Charlotte’s pitching staff has the highest earned run average (4.41) of any team in the FSL. The Stone Crabs are second in the league with 18 triples.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...
6/05 - RHP Brian Flynn (4-3, 4.06 ERA) ... Flynn has dropped his last two starts allowing 11 earned runs on 15 hits over 10.0 innings with 10 strikeouts and two walks. In his last outing on May 31 at Dunedin, he surrendered six runs on eight hits in 5.0 innings.
6/06 - LHP Shawn Teufel (2-4, 7.71 ERA) ... Teufel recorded his first win since April 15 when he beat Jupiter on the road on June 1. Lasting 5.0 innings, he allowed four runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks. He is 2-1 on the road, but 0-4 at Joker Marchant Stadium.
6/07 - RHP Luis Angel Sanz (3-1, 4.89 ERA) ... The hottest starter on the staff right now, Sanz has not allowed a run in his last 12.1 innings pitched and has a 1.00 ERA in his last three starts. In his last outing on June 2 at Jupiter, he scattered seven hits in six shutout innings with three strikeouts and one walk.
6/08 - LHP Alex Burgos (3-7, 5.31 ERA) ... Burgos is coming off his best outing of the year working six no-hit, shutout innings on June 3 at Jupiter. He mowed down six and walked four in recording his first start with no-hits of his career. He is 0-2 at home this season.-
LAST YEAR ... Lakeland won five of the eight games played versus Charlotte last season but split the four-game series at Joker Marchant Stadium. Tony Plagman and Ryan Soares each had three homers in the eight games as the Flying Tigers clubbed 12 round-trippers in the series. Soares hit a home run in three straight games at Charlotte.
STARTING STARS ... Luis Angel Sanz, Alex Burgos and Brian Stroud have allowed a total of just one unearned run over 18.0 innings in the last three combined starts.
BIRTHDAY BOY ... Outfielder Tyler Collins will celebrate his 22nd birthday on Wednesday, June 6.
CASTELLANOS PROMOTED ... Nick Castellanos was promoted to AA Erie following the Flying Tigers’ game on Monday. The Flying Tigers third baseman had hits in eight straight games hit in which he was 12x32 (.375) and had hits in 13 of his last 14 games for a 24x55 (.436) clip. For the season he had hits in 50 of the 55 games played and had two or more hits in 27 of those games. Castellanos will leave Lakeland after batting .405 on the season – a figure that tops all minor league hitters - with 17 doubles, three triples, three homers and 32 runs batted in. His .405 average, 87 hits, 119 total bases as well as his .461 on-base and .553 slugging percentages – all lead the Florida State League.
FIERY CASTILLO ... Although he was held hitless in Monday’s game, Luis Castillo has 11 hits in 27 at bats over his last six games for a .407 mark with six doubles and five runs scored.
NUMBER NINE, NUMBER NINE ... James McCann brings a nine-game hit streak into this series with Charlotte. The Flying Tiger catcher is 14x33 (.424) since May 25 and has scored six runs in his last five games. The nine-game hit streak is currently tied for second longest active hit streak in the Florida State League.
MUCHO MACHADO ... Dixon Machado has had two hits in each of his last three games and is 7x14 (.500) in his last four games with four runs scored.
ALL-STARS ... Four Flying Tigers have been named to the Florida State League All-Star Game. Representing the Flying Tigers will be third baseman Nick Castellanos, outfielder Avisail Garcia, catcher James McCann, and closer Bruce Rondon. The All-Star game will be played on Saturday, June 16 at Charlotte Sports Park, the home of the Stone Crabs.
ROSTER SHUFFLE ... Marcus Lemon was placed on the temporary inactive list on Sunday. Wade Gaynor was added from Erie on Tuesday to take the roster spot vacated by Nick Castellanos’ promotion to the SeaWolves. Gaynor was batting .229 in 13 games at Erie with a double, two homers and nine runs batted in. He played eight games in the outfield, three at third base and two at first base while with the SeaWolves.
1700th WIN ... Manager Dave Huppert recorded his 1,700th victory as a minor league manager on Sunday, June 3 when the Flying Tigers posted an 11-1 win at Jupiter. He is in his second season with Lakeland and his 24th season as a minor league manager. Huppert, who became the winningest active manager in the minor leagues with Lakeland’s sixth win on April 19 of this year, brings a 1,700-1,562 record into the Charlotte series. The all-time record for wins for a minor league manager belongs to Stan Wasiak of the Dodger’s organization who won 2,497 games.
WE’RE 91st ... Thanks to the free-agent acquisition of Prince Fielder in the off-season, the Detroit Tigers did not have a pick in Monday’s first round of the Major League Draft. The Tigers, which lost last year’s #1 pick in the Victor Martinez signing, will not get to make a selection until the 91st pick overall this year. Most teams will have made two draft selections before the Tigers get to dip their paw into the cookie jar.
THE ORGANIZATION ... At one game over .500, Lakeland is the only club in the Tigers’ organization with a winning record at this point – Detroit (25-29, 3rd, 6.0 GB); Toledo (27-31, 2nd, 7.5 GB); Erie (27-28, 3rd, 7.0 GB); Lakeland (28-27, 3rd, 9.0 GB); West Michigan (28-30, 6th, 12.5 GB).
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