THE SERIES ... Lakeland opened the series with a 2-0 win last night in Tampa behind 8.0 shutout innings by Kyle Ryan. The series continues with a pair of home games Saturday at 6 pm and Sunday at 1 pm.
THE FLYING TIGERS (25-34, 6th Place, 8.5 GB) ... Lakeland brings a four-game winning streak into this series after Friday’s shutout win in Tampa. The Flying Tigers have gone 10-6 in their last 16 games, but remain mired in last place in the North Division. Lakeland’s .244 team batting average is second lowest in the league while the 216 runs scored is tied for second fewest in the FSL.
THE YANKEES (36-33, 5th Place South, 7.5 GB) ... Tampa is looking to snap a three-game losing streak. At this point, Tampa may be happy just to get on the scoreboard as the Yankees have been shutout in back-to-back games and have not scored in their last 23 innings. Shane Greene is second in the Florida State League with 68 strikeouts and tied for first with 72.0 innings pitched while Corey Black is fourth with 63 punch outs. Robert Refsnyder is second with a .403 on-base percentage. Catcher Ben Gamel has thrown out a league-best 24 would-be base stealers.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
6/08 - RHP Wilsen Palacios (2-4, 4.40) ... Palacios worked 5.0 innings in his last start on June 1 at Tampa, holding the Yankees to two unearned runs on four hits with three strikeouts. He is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA in his last three outings and has 28 strikeouts over his last five games. Palacios has made one relief appearance and one start versus Tampa and has a 0-0 record and a 2.00 earned run average.
6/09 - RHP Jeff Ferrell (2-4, 3.80) ... Ferrell tossed 6.0 shutout innings on June 3 at St. Lucie with five strikeouts and four hits allowed. He is 2-1 with a 1.35 ERA over his last three starts with nine strikeouts. In his only previous appearance against the Yankees, he allowed a pair of runs on three hits in 2.0 innings on April 5.
SEASON SERIES ... The two clubs have split the eight games in the series so far with Lakeland winning the last two and four of the last six.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS - TAMPA STYLE ... Carmen Angelini has hits in five of his last six games in which he is 9x22 with five runs batted in. He is batting .337 since May 16 ... Gary Sanchez has had two or more hits in a game seven times in his last 13 games.
FOUR NAMED TO FSL ALL-STAR TEAM ... Starting pitcher Kyle Ryan, and relievers Melvin Mercedes and Will Clinard have been named to the Florida State League All-Star team (Clinard was promoted to AA Erie prior to the All-Star team announcement). In addition, outfielder Jeff McVaney was added to the squad as a replacement. As a result of the Flying Tigers winning the 2012 FSL Championship, manager Dave Huppert will manage the North All-Stars and will be assisted by his staff of coaches Larry Herndon and Mike Maroth. Ryan is 6-5 with a 3.20 ERA while Mercedes is 2-0 with a 0.70 ERA and 10 saves including his last six straight appearances. McVaney is batting .255 with five homers and 27 RBI. Clinard was 1-2 with a 1.59 ERA before his promotion.
TAMPA ALL-STARS ... The Yankees will be represented by catcher Gary Sanchez (.282, 9 HR, 41 RBI) and pitcher Shane Greene (4-6, 3.63 ERA).
HAVE A SERIES, TYLER ... Tyler Hanover was 6x12 in the three games at St. Lucie with two runs scored as Lakeland swept the three games played. He is hitting an impressive .348 when facing lefties.
NOW HE’S ROLLIN’ ... Drew VerHagen did not record his first professional win until his seventh start of the 2013 season. Since then, he has won four of his last five starts, including the last three straight. He is 4-0 with a 1.73 ERA since May 9 and now ranks 10th with a 2.93 ERA and second with a .212 opponents batting average.
SHUTTING ‘EM DOWN ... Kyan Ryan tossed 8.0 shutout innings at Tampa last night on three hits while Hudson Randall threw 8.0 shutout innings on June 4 and has not allowed an earned run in his last 15 innings. Randall began the season by allowing 19 runs in his first four starts. Lakeland’s starting pitchers have allowed just two total runs and have not allowed an earned run in the last 28.0 innings over the last four starts. The corps has struck out 17 in those quartet of games and walked just five while allowing 14 hits.
LAKELAND IN FSL RANKS ... Jason Krizan is the third toughest batter to strikeout if the FSL with 9.68 at bats per strikeout ... Jeff McVaney is tied with three others for second with five triples. He leads the league with 235 at bats and is tied for second with 59 games played ... Brandon Loy has 29 walks which is third most in the FSL ... Melvin Mercedes is tied for third with 10 saves ... Kyle Ryan is tied for the league-lead with 76.0 innings pitched ... Chad Wright leads all FSL outfielders with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage handling 112 chances without committing an error.
OTHERS ON THE HIT PARADE ... Jeff McVaney was 4x12 at St. Lucie with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and two more driven in ... Mike Hernandez hit a three-run homer and drove in another run in the middle game of the Mets series ... Jason Krizan was also 4x12 in the series.
DOIN’ THE ROSTER SHUFFLE ... Lakeland welcomed back two players recently while two others were sent back to extended spring training. Returning from the disabled list is catcher John Murrian who had been on the DL since May 6. Also back with the squad is third baseman Francisco Martinez who was the player to be named later in the Tigers big trade last season with Seattle for Doug Fister. Martinez is making his third stint with Lakeland after having played for the Flying Tigers in 2009 and 2010. To make room on the roster infielders Jordan Dean and Jesus Ustariz went sent to the Connecticut roster.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB ... Francisco Martinez has hits in each of the three games he has played since joining Lakeland. On Friday at Tampa, he doubled, homered and stole a base with two runs scored. More importantly, Lakeland is a perfect 3-0 with Martinez in the line-up. His stolen base on Friday was the Flying Tigers first in the last six games.
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 1,770-1,617 record entering the June 8 game. 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 ... Lakeland will be at home for four games against the Bradenton Marauders on June 10-13 with all four games scheduled for 6:30 pm.
TS ANDREA 5, FSL 1 ... Thanks to torrential rains and strong winds from Tropical Storm Andrea, five games of the Florida State League schedule for Thursday, June 6, were rained out. Only Tampa was able to host a game and was shutout by Palm Beach, 4-0. Two of the dates were slated for doubleheaders.
FORMER FLYING TIGER MAKES MWL ALL-STAR TEAM ... Jeff Holm, who played in six games for Lakeland in 2012, has been named as a starter on the Midwest League All-Star Team. Holm is hitting .293 with five homers and 34 at West Michigan.
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