THE SERIES .... All three games of this series will be played at Jackie Robinson Park in Daytona. The series opener is Sunday at 5:35 pm with games two and three on Monday and Tuesday at 7:05 pm. Tuesday’s game will be followed by Daytona’s Independence Day fireworks show. The Flying Tigers are 21-18 on the road this season. All games can be heard on the Cubs website at www.daytonacubs.com.
THE FLYING TIGERS (4-3 second half, T-3rd, 1.0 GB, 40-32 overall) ... Lakeland took the last two games of a three-game series at Clearwater to start the weekend. On Saturday, the Flying Tigers won 6-4 as Daniel Field went 3x5 and Marcus Lemon drove in three runs. After being held to three hits in each half of a doubleheader on June 27 against Jupiter, Lakeland cranked out 39 hits in the Threshers’ series for a .331 average with 13 doubles and a pair of Avisail Garcia home runs. The club has now won four of its last six games. The Flying Tigers have a 28-19 record in games versus North Division opponents. Lakeland continues to lead the league with a .272 batting average and, thanks to 12 doubles in the Clearwater series, is tied for third for third with 134 doubles.
THE CUBS (5-5 second half, 5th, 1.5 GB, 41-35 overall) ... Daytona dropped its last two games to Dunedin and is 4-4 its last eight games and 7-4 its last 11 outings. Austin Kirk, who is slated to start game three of this series, is second in the Florida State League with a 2.26 ERA and is 4-1 on the year. Kirk leads the FSL with 91.2 innings pitched and is fifth with a 1.11 WHIP (walks and hits allowed per nine innings). Frank Del Valle is second in the league with a 1.09 WHIP, but has surrendered 11 home runs – the most of any FSL pitcher. The Cubs have a 3.89 staff ERA. Arismendy Alcantara leads Daytona with a .301 batting average which is ninth best in the league and is second with 89 base hits and fourth with 24 stolen bases. Greg Rohan leads the FSL with 65 RBI, 23 doubles (tied), 144 total bases, and 36 extra-base hits and is third with 12 home runs. He is also fifth with a .495 slugging percentage. John Andreoli has a league-leading 27 stolen bases. Matthew Szczur is second in the league with 53 runs scored and is one behind Andreoli with 26 stolen bases. The Cubs’ .263 batting average ranks second to the Flying Tigers .272 mark. Daytona leads the league with 32 triples and have committed the most errors of any FSL team.
THIS YEAR ... Lakeland has won four of the six meetings this season, including the last two contests. Starter Kevin Eichhorn, now on the disabled list, picked up two wins in the series while Matt Little got the other two wins in relief. Avisail Garcia has 11 hits in the six games while Nick Castellanos, now at AA Erie, collected 10 hits. Garcia and James Robbins each have two homers versus Daytona this season. Lakeland has a .303 average in the series while the Cubs have a .289 mark.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...
7/01 - LHP Alex Burgos (4-8, 5.66 ERA) ... Burgos had a two-game win streak snapped in his last start, giving up five runs on eight hits and five walks in 4.0 innings on June 21 at Tampa. Control has been an issue as he has walked four or more batters in each of his last eight outings. Eleven of his 14 starts have come on the road where he is 4-6 with a 6.11 earned run average. Burgos lost his only start against Daytona this year allowing five runs on six hits in 5.1 innings with five walks.
7/02 - RHP Luis Angel Sanz (4-2, 4.53 ERA) ... Sanz struck out seven and held Jupiter to four hits over 5.2 innings while allowing two runs (one earned) to get the win in his last outing on June 27. He has struck out 20 batters over his last three games, including a season-high eight on June 10 at Brevard County. Since moving into the starting rotation on May 22, Sanz is 3-2 with a 2.34 ERA. Sanz has not started against the Cubs but allowed two runs on three hits in an inning of relief work.
7/03 - LHP Shawn Teufel (4-5, 6.05 ERA) ... Which Teufel will show up is the big question? Will it be the dominant one who tossed 14.0 consecutive shutout innings over back-to-back starts on June 8 and 13 or the one that allowed nine runs in 9.2 innings in his last two starts on June 19 and 28? In his last start, Clearwater roughed up Teufel for seven runs (five earned) on seven hits in 4.0 innings. He has not faced Daytona.
INTRIGUE ON THE BASE PATHS ... The series matches the league’s top base stealing team (Daytona with 113) against the second best team in throwing out would-be base stealers (Lakeland with a .402 mark).
THREE IN A ROW? ... Lakeland took the 2010 season series with the Cubs by a 10-8 margin and was 11-6 against the Cubs last season.
DOUBLE THE PLEASURE ... Lakeland knocked out a season high 18 hits on Friday at Clearwater with eight of those hits being doubles – one shy of the Florida State League record set by Clearwater on Sept. 3, 1994. Wade Gaynor hit three doubles for Lakeland, one shy of tying the FSL record held by many players, but none since Vero Beach’s Anthony Barron did so on June 22, 1983. Curt Casali and James Robbins each had two doubles while Tyler Collins had one two-base hit.
THREE TIMES THE FUN ... Fifteen of Lakeland’s season-high 18 hits on Friday came off the bats of five players as Tyler Collins, Wade Gaynor, Avisail Garcia, James Robbins, and Curt Casali each collected three base hits in the game. Collins singled twice and doubled; Gaynor hit three doubles and scored three times; Garcia singled twice, hit a two-run homer and crossed home plate four times; Robbins had two doubles and a single to drive in five runs; and Casali also had two doubles and a single for two RBI.
FLYING HIGH ... Daniel Fields went 6x15 in the Clearwater series with three runs scored ... Avisail Garcia homered in back-to-back games versus the Threshers and is 6x16 with five runs scored in his last four games. He now ranks 10th in the FSL with a .295 average and leads all FSL outfielders with 11 assists ... Wade Gaynor went 6x13 against Clearwater with four doubles and three runs scored ... Marcus Lemon has hits in 19 of his last 23 games played with .320 mark during that streak with 10 doubles. He also scored 12 times and drove in 12 runs in that stretch ... Adolfo Reina is 7x14 his last four games played ... Although he was held hitless in Saturday’s game, James Robbins is 10x20 with five runs scored in his last six games. On Friday, he drove in five runs against Clearwater with a single and two doubles. He continues to lead all FSL first baseman with a .995 fielding percentage with just three errors in 627 chances ... Tyler Collins is fourth in the FSL with 22 doubles.
HITS IN BUNCHES ... Avisail Garcia and Tyler Collins each have had 23 games with two or more hits in a game with Collins collecting three hits in 11 different games. Hernan Perez has 14 games with two hits and one three-hit game and one four-hit game. James Robbins and Dixon Machado each have had 14 multi-hit games.
SOLO SHOTS ... Lakeland has hit 30 home runs this season with 17 of them coming with no one on base. Avisail Garcia leads the Flying Tigers with eight home runs, six of them solo shots.
MONTHLY BREAKDOWN ... The Flying Tigers finished with a 15-6 record in the month of June, their best record of any month in 2012. Lakeland was 12-10 in April and 13-16 in May.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland returns from a six-game road trip to host a six-game homestand. The games begin with a Fourth of July match-up with Clearwater at 5:00 pm.
WINNINGEST ACTIVE MANAGER ... 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 1,712-1,567 record into the Daytona series.
No comments:
Post a Comment