THE SERIES ... Lakeland returns home to face the first place Dunedin Blue Jays in a three-game series, May 28-30, with all three games slated for 6:30 p.m. at Joker Marchant Stadium. This will be the first meeting between the two North Division clubs since April 20.
THE FLYING TIGERS (19-30, 6th Place, 9.0 GB) ... Lakeland took two of three at Daytona over the weekend, winning the opening and closing games of the series while the Cubs took the middle game. Overall, the Flying Tigers have won four of their last six games. Lakeland is 7-18 at home, but 12-12 on the road.
THE BLUE JAYS (27-20, 1st Place, 1.0 Game Lead) ... Dunedin dropped two of three to Tampa over the weekend and has gone 7-9 the last 16 games, but still holds on to a 1.0 game lead in the North Division. The Blue Jays are 17-9 at home, but are 10-11 on the road. Andy Burns is third in the Florida State League with a .328 batting average and a .399 on-base percentage while fourth with a .534 slugging percentage. He is also tied for fourth with 57 hits and third with 17 stolen bases. Teammate Jon Berti leads the FSL with 24 stolen bases. Scott Copeland ranks fifth in the league with a 2.49 ERA to go with his 4-1 record while Jesse Hernandez is ninth with a 2.74 earned run average. Blake McFarland is one of three closers in the league with a FSL-best 10 saves.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/28 - RHP Wilsen Palacios (2-4, 4.94 ERA) ... Wilsen Palacios took the loss in his last start on May 21 against Fort Myers, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits over 5.0 innings with four strikeouts and two walks. Two of his hits allowed were homers. He is 0-1 against Dunedin, taking the loss on April 12 after allowing four runs on seven hits in 4.0 innings with a pair of strikeouts and four walks. Palacios is 1-3 at home with a 4.30 ERA in four starts.
5/29 - RHP Jeff Ferrell (1-3, 4.41 ERA) ... Jeff Ferrell picked up his first win of the year in his last start on May 22 against Fort Myers, allowing one unearned run on five hits over 6.0 innings with two strikeouts and one walk. He is 0-0 with a 1.80 in two previous appearances including one start. Ferrell is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in six home appearances, including four starts.
5/30 - RHP Hudson Randall (0-4, 8.84 ERA) ... Hudson Randall has dropped each of his four starts this season. In his last start on May 23 versus Fort Myers, he allowed four earned runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts and zero walks. He has surrendered four homers this season. Randall is 0-3 with a 10.38 ERA in three previous home starts. He has not faced Dunedin this season.
SEASON SERIES ... Dunedin has won five of the six meetings this seasons, including all three previous games in Lakeland. The lone Lakeland win in the series came on April 14 as the Flying Tigers posted a 2-0 shutout. The last four games in the series have been low-scoring affairs with Dunedin outscoring Lakeland 9-7 over the four contests. The two clubs battled for 12 scoreless innings on April 18 before Dunedin pushed across a run in the top of the 13th for the win.
LOOKING FOR A HOME ... Austin Bibens-Dirkx has seen his share of minor league baseball clubhouses as the Blue Jays are the pitcher’s fifth different organization he has signed with. He was drafted by the Mariners out of college in 2006 and has signed free agent contracts with the Cubs, National, Rockies as well as the Blue Jays. This may be his break as the righty was named the FSL Pitcher of the Week for May 20.
JOLLY JEFF ... Jeff McVaney brings a seven-game hit streak into the Dunedin series in which he is 10x30 (.333) and has hits in 11 of his last 12 games for a 14x50 clip (.280). He has scored nine runs and driven in 10 more runs during that span. McVaney leads the Florida State League with 202 at bats and is tied for second with 49 game played. He has hit five triples which is tied for second most in the league.
I’M WALKIN’ ... Brandon Loy is second in the league with 27 walks, one behind the leader, Zeke DeVoss of Daytona.
WORKHORSE ... Kyle Ryan is tied for the FSL lead with 65.0 innings pitched this season. He has worked 5.2 innings or more in each of his 10 starts this season and three times has worked into the seventh inning.
HAPPY HAROLD ... Harold Castro has hits in his last four games (6x16) with three runs scored and four runs batted in. He has at least one base hits in six of his last seven games (10x25). Of his nine games played this season, only two have come at Joker Marchant Stadium.
ARMS IN THE FSL RANKINGS ... Drew VerHagen is fifth with a .226 opponents batting average ... Will Clinard is fourth with 0.99 walks allowed per nine innings ... Melvin Mercedes is fifth with 8.85 baserunners allowed per nine innings.
STREAK SNAPPED ... Will Clinard saw his streak of 15.2 consecutive scoreless innings snapped on May 26 when the Daytona Cubs pushed across a run. The streak ran over eight appearances.
HOME STREAKER ... Michael Hernandez has hits in eight consecutive home games (11x28) which is the longest active streak in the Florida State League. Thanks in part to the streak, Hernandez is batting .304 in 13 home games this season.
ALMOST PERFECT ... Melvin Mercedes has allowed just one earned run over his 16 appearances this season. He has surrendered just two runs total and now has a 2-0 record, five saves and a 0.44 earned run average.
NOT A COME FROM BEHIND TEAM ... Lakeland is 8-9 in games in which opponents score first for a .471 percentage, lowest in the league. The Flying Tigers are also 5-20 when trailing after five innings, 4-23 after six, 3-26 after seven and 1-25 when trailing after eight innings.
LIFE IN THE MINORS ...When the parent club of an organization holds Extended Spring Training (EST) on the back fields of its stadium, lots of players make the journey back and forth between the practice fields to the Lakeland roster. Such is the case with Jordan Dean. He was added to the Flying Tiger roster on May 2 from EST and was sent back on May 23 to make room for pitcher Josh Carr. Two days later, Dean found himself back on the Flying Tiger roster replacing Dixon Machado who went back on the DL after suffering an injury at Daytona on May 24.
FLURRY OF MOVES ... Lakeland added a new right handed pitcher on Tuesday, welcoming Brennan Smith from West Michigan. Smith, a 33rd round pick in 2010 out of Bowling Green, was the 2011 New York-Penn League Pitcher of the Year and was 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA in 16 appearances (1 start) this year for the Whitecaps. To make room for Smith, RHP Matt Davenport was sent to extended spring. In addition, infielder Jason King was activated from the temporary inactive list and transfered to West Michigan.
THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, who was inducted into the Florida State League Hall of Fame in 2012, is in his 25th season as a minor league manager and is the active winningest manager in the minors with a 1,764-1,613 record entering the Daytona series. Last season, he led Lakeland to the 2012 Florida State League Championship to record his fourth overall championship and his third in the FSL. He also led the 2001 Brevard County to a co-championship while his 2007 Clearwater squad won the crown outright. In addition, he coached the Lakeland Blue Claws (Phillies) to the 2006 South Atlantic League title.
UP NEXT ... Following the Dunedin series, Lakeland closes out May with a Friday night home again against Tampa. The concluding two games of the Yankees series will be played June 1 and 2 in Tampa.
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