THE SERIES .... All three games of this series will be played at Joker Marchant Stadium, June 12-14, with 6:30 pm start times.
UP NEXT ... The Florida State League takes a three-day break for the All-Star Game June 16 in Charlotte. Lakeland returns to action on Monday, June 19 to open a three-game series with Brevard County to close out the first half of the season.
THE FLYING TIGERS (32-29, 3rd, 8.5 GB) ... Lakeland is coming off a series win at Brevard County. After dropping game one of a doubleheader by a 3-2 score, Lakeland won the nightcap 4-3 and took a 6-5 win in 10 innings last night, scoring the go-ahead run on two wild pitches. The Flying Tigers have won two in a row and seven of their last 10 placing the club just 1/2 game out of second place. Bruce Rondon is second in the FSL with 13 saves. Tyler Collins is tied for third in the league with 18 doubles. The Flying Tigers continue to lead the league with a .270 batting average, one point higher than Dunedin. Lakeland has stolen 66 bases as a team, a mark that ranks fourth highest in the FSL. On the flip side, Lakeland has the second highest ERA in the league at 4.13. The Flying Tigers are 21-17 against North Division teams and 13-13 at home.
THE BLUE JAYS (41-21, 1st, 0.0 GB) ... Dunedin clinched the North Division first half championship with an 8-3 win over Clearwater on Sunday. The win puts the Blue Jays in the Florida State League playoffs for a third consecutive year. Dunedin lost 6-4 to Palm Beach last night, just its third loss in the last 13 games. Sean Nolin leads the FSL in wins and is a perfect 7-0 on the year with a 2.35 ERA and is third in the league with 73 strikeouts, while John Stilson is 3-0 with a 2.82 mark. Danny Barnes is second in the minors with 17 saves. Kevin Nolan is fourth in the FSL with a .322 average while Jon Talley is seventh with a .308 mark. Nolan leads the FSL with 46 runs scored and is tied for the lead with 20 doubles while ranking second with 79 hits. Talley is third with a .404 on-base percentage. With a .269 team batting average, the Blue Jays trail FSL-leading Lakeland by one percentage point and are also second to St. Lucie with 46 home runs. They lead the FSL with 146 doubles. Dunedin has the second lowest ERA with a 3.49 mark.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS (based on previous rotations) ...
6/12 - RHP Brian Flynn (4-4, 4.30 ERA) ... Flynn allowed four runs on 10 hits in 5.0 innings in his last start on June 6 at home versus Charlotte. The 6’8” righthander tied his career-high with seven strikeouts and walked two in dropping his third straight decision. He is 0-2 with a 10.24 ERA in two starts against the Blue Jays this season.
6/13 - LHP Shawn Teufel (3-7, 5.31 ERA) ... Teufel is coming off his best outing of the year, hurling a complete game (7.0 inn.) shutout of Charlotte at home on June 8. The 6’3” lefty struck out three and walked three, but held the Stone Crabs to five hits in recording just the second complete game shutout in the FSL this season. He has not faced the Blue Jays this season.
6/14 - RHP Luis Angel Sanz (0-1, 4.22 ERA) ... Sanz had a streak of 15.0 consecutive scoreless innings pitched snapped on the road at Brevard County on June 10. After not being scored upon in back-to-back starts, the 6’1” righty gave up three earned runs on six homes with a season-high eight strikeouts. Sanz, who has a 1.95 ERA in his last four starts, is 1-0 with a 4.05 ERA versus Dunedin in 2012.
THIS YEAR ... The Blue Jays hold a slim 5-4 lead in the season series this season. Six of the games were played in Dunedin with the Blue Jays winning four of those games. Dunedin had a ringer in the last series as former major leaguer Vladimir Guerrero went 7x15 with three homers and seven RBI while working his way back to the bigs. The Flying Tigers took two of three in the first series played in Lakeland, April 25-27. Lakeland’s top two hitters in the series, Nick Castellanos (18 hits, .474 average) and James McCann (14 hits, .438 average) won’t be around for this season having been promoted to AA Erie. Tyler Clark has picked up two of Lakeland’s four wins in three of his relief appearances in the series.
FLYING HIGH ... Luis Castillo is 14x36 (.388) his last nine games ... Tyler Collins has hit in six straight games (10x20, .500) and is 15x40 (.375) over the last 13 games ... Avisail Garcia is 9x16 (.563) with five RBI his last five games ... Marcus Lemon brings a nine-game hit streak into this series in which he is 13x32 (.406) with four doubles and six RBI ... Dixon Machado has hits in eight of his last nine games (10x29, .345) ... Tyler Clark has allowed just one run on two hits his last eight appearances ... as a team, Lakeland is batting .310 the last 11 games with 22 doubles, one triple and five home runs. The Flying Tigers have also swiped 18 bases during that span of games.
SHUTOUT STREAK SNAPPED ... Luis Angel Sanz saw his streak of consecutive scoreless innings pitch streak come to a close at 15.0 with a three-run homer on the road Sunday in game one of a doubleheader at Brevard County. Sanz had back to back shutout starts on May 27 and June 2.
FSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK ... Dunedin third baseman Kevin Ahrens is the reigning Florida State League Player of the Week for the week of June 3-10. Ahrens went 9x21 (.429) for the week with seven runs scored, three home runs and 10 runs driven in.
LAKELAND ALL-STARS ... Four Flying Tigers were named to the Florida State League All-Star Game. Two of the four, third baseman Nick Castellanos and catcher James McCann have since been promoted to AA Erie. Also selected were Avisail Garcia 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.
DUNEDIN ALL-STARS ... The Blue Jays will send six representatives to the FSL All-Star game including: pitchers Sean Nolin, Egan Smith and Danny Barnes as well first baseman Jon Talley, second baseman Ryan Schimpf and shortstop Kevin Nolan.
TAKE MY PLACE, PLEASE ... Dunedin will actually send a seventh player to the All-Star game as catcher Jack Murphy has been named to replace Lakeland’s James McCann who was promoted to Erie
PEREZ GETS A CUP OF COFFEE ... When a Flying Tigers player gets a call from the organization, that player hopes he’s being promoted to AA Erie. For shortstop Hernan Perez, the call he got Saturday morning from Dave Owen, the Tigers’ director of player development, did mean a promotion, but Perez couldn’t expected his promotion to the big club. When current Tiger shortstop Jhonny Peralta took a paternity leave to be with his wife who was about to deliver twins, the big club needed a middle infielder. Perez was the only available one in the minors on the 40-man protected list and that allowed the big club to call him up without losing another minor leaguer on that list to another club. After a flight to Cincinnati where Detroit was taking on the Reds that evening, Perez made his major league debut in the eighth inning when manager Jim Leyland called upon him to pinch hit for another former Flying Tiger, Brayan Villarreal. The fairy tale didn’t have a Hollywood ending as Perez grounded out. Peralta has since returned to the club and the clock has struck 12 for Perez as the shortstop has rejoined the Flying Tigers.
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 1,704-1,564 record into the Dunedin 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.
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