THE SERIES .... All three games in this series will be played at Lakeland’s Joker Marchant Stadium, but all three will have different start times. Saturday’s series opener is at 6 pm with Sunday’s game scheduled for 1 pm. The series finale is Monday at 6:30 pm. All games can be heard on the Cubs website at www.daytonacubs.com.
THE FLYING TIGERS (7-6 second half, T-3rd, 1.0 GB, 43-35 overall) ... Lakeland took advantage of four consecutive first-inning walks by Clearwater’s Austin Wright to grab a 3-0 lead and went on to down the Threshers 5-2 on Friday. Alex Burgos tossed seven strong innings holding Clearwater to one earned run on four hits with six strikeouts for the win while Tyler Clark struck out five of the six batters he faced for the save. Clearwater had taken the first two games 3-2 and 4-2. Lakeland is now 2-3 its last five games. After reaching double digits in hits in five of the first seven games of the first half, Lakeland has not had more than eight hits in any of the last six contests. The pitchers have done their jobs to keep the games close as starters have a 2.42 ERA the last four games and the relievers have a 1.38 ERA for the second half. The Flying Tigers continue to lead the Florida State League with a .267 team batting average and rank fourth with 81 stolen bases.
THE CUBS (8-8 second half, 5th, 1.5 GB, 38-46 overall) ... Daytona snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-1 win at Dunedin on Friday as Arismendy Alcantara doubled, tripled and homered for two runs scored and two more driven in. Rubi Silva contributed four singles. The victory was just the second in the last eight games for the Cubs. Alcantara is now ninth in the Florida State League with a .301 average while Silva is tenth with a .300 mark. John Andreoli has a league-leading 30 stolen bases while Matt Szczur has scored a league-high 55 runs. Austin Kirk ranks third in the FSL with a 2.63 ERA to go with his 4-2 record while Matt Loosen is fourth with a 2.84 mark to back up his 7-3 record. Daytona is second to Lakeland with a .263 average while leading the league with 120 stolen bases – 21 more than any other team.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ...
7/07 - RHP Luis Angel Sanz (4-3, 4.89 ERA) ... Sanz allowed a season-high eight hits in his last start on July 2 at Daytona and matched his season-high with six runs given up. He has struck out 24 batters over his last four starts with seven walks. Sanz is 3-0 at home with a 4.50 ERA versus a 1-3 mark with a 5.18 earned run average on the road. As a starter he is 3-3 with a 3.15 ERA in seven starts. Sanz is 0-1 with a 9.95 ERA versus Daytona in one start and one relief appearance.
7/08 - RHP Shawn Teufel (5-5, 5.83 ERA) ... Teufel held the Cubs to two runs on five hits in his last outing on July 3 to get the win and has won four of his last five decisions. He has a 3-1 record and a 3.41 ERA in his last five starts and is 1-1 with a 8.38 ERA in day games. Teufel is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in his one start against the Cubs this season. For his career, he has made one start and four relief appearances versus Daytona with a 1-0 record and a 1.69 ERA over three seasons.
7/09 - LHP Brian Flynn (7-4, 3.86 ERA) ... Flynn held Clearwater to one run on six hits with eight strikeouts in his last start on July 8, but exited without the decision as the Tigers could only manage one run with him on the mound. He is 3-0 in his last four starts with a 2.63 earned runs average. Flynn has faced Daytona once this season and allowed four earned runs on 11 hits in a no-decision.
THIS YEAR ... Lakeland has taken six of the nine meetings between the two clubs in 2012 and is now 27-17 versus the Cubs over the last three seasons. The Flying Tigers has won two of three games in each of the three previous series this season. Kevin Eichhorn, now on the disabled list has two wins in the series while Matt Little has two wins in relief. Avisail Garcia and Nick Castellanos, now both at AA Erie, had 13 and 10 hits, respectively for Lakeland. Tyler Collins has had 11 hits, including two doubles, a pair of triples and a home runs for nine RBI while James Robbins has 10 hits including three homers and a pair of doubles for six runs batted in. Rubi Silva (13 hits, 3 triples, 9 RBI), Elieser Bonne (12 hits, 1 triple, 1 homer, 5 RBI) and Matthew Szczur (11 hits, four doubles, a triple and 11 runs scored) lead the Cubs in the series.
INSIDE THE CUBS ROSTER ... Pitcher Ryan Searle was born in Brisbane, Australia ... Outfielder Matthew Szczur was a two-sport start at Villanova University in baseball and football. On the football field, Szczur led the Wildcats to the Division I Football Championship Series National Title in 2009 and was named MVP of the Championship game.
ONE MAN JAMES GANG ... James Robbins has hits in four straight games (6x13); 10 of his last 12 games (19x41, .463); and 16 of his last 20 games (27x66, .409). In addition, he has scored at least one run in 10 of the last 13 games. Robbins is the second hottest hitter in the Florida State League in the last month, just one point behind Palm Beach’s Mike O’Neill who has a .410 average since June 6. Robbins also has a 1.049 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) in the past month – the best of any FSL hitter.
HE’S BACK ... When Avisail Garcia was promoted to Erie on Wednesday, Luis Castillo rejoined the club. Castillo was batting .280 in 12 games at West Michigan with four doubles, two triples and two homers for seven runs batted in. Castillo has had a base hit in each of his three games since rejoining Lakeland going 4x8 in those games.
PUT ME IN COACH ... Adolfo Reina has played in just seven games since June 19, but has hits in six of those games going 9x24 at the plate.
LOOKING FOR A BREAK ... Daniel Fields was 6x15 in three games at Clearwater on June 28-30, but has not had a hit in five games in July going 19 at bats without a base hit ... Dixon Machado has just two base hits – a double and a triple – in his last 26 at bats over the last eight games.
GLAD ITS THE CUBS AGAIN ... Tyler Collins went 5x8 with a triple, homer and four RBI in two games at Daytona last week. The Clearwater series was a different matter as Collins was held hitless in 10 at bats over the three-game series.
ARM STRENGTH ... Alex Burgos has won four of his last five starts with a 3.66 ERA on 17 hits, 19 walks and 22 strikeouts. Twelve of his 16 starts have been on the road ... Tyler Clark has four saves and a loss in his last five appearances and has allowed just one earned run in 18 appearances since April 26. He has 13 strikeouts in is last 20 batters faced, including eight of the last nine ... Matt Crouse has been touched for just two runs in his last 17.0 innings pitched over nine appearances ... Brian Flynn is 3-0 with a 2.63 ERA in his last four starts.
STAGE FRIGHT ... Lakeland celebrated the Fourth of July with a crowd of 5,038 –the largest crowd since July 4 of last year. It was also the fifth largest crowd since 2004. Unfortunately, the Flying Tigers are 1-4 when playing in front of crowds of 5,000 or more.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland is off Tuesday, July 20 and then begins at eight-game road trip – the longest of the year – with four games at Charlotte (July 11-14) and then four games at Palm Beach (July 15-18). Next home game for the Flying Tigers will be July 19 against Fort Myers.
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 1,715-1,570 record into the Daytona series.
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