Monday, April 21, 2014

Mission Notes vs. Dunedin (April 21-23)

THE SERIES ... Lakeland opens a five-game homestand with three contests against the Dunedin Blue Jays on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. All games are slated for 6:30 pm and will be carried on the Blue Jays website. Dunedin owned Lakeland in 2013, winning 13 of the 18 games.

THE FLYING TIGERS (10-6, T-2nd, 3.0 GB)
... Having not played at extra inning game prior to the Clearwater series, Lakeland won its last two games in the 13th and 11th innings to complete a three-game sweep of the Threshers. The Flying Tigers, who have won seven of their last ten, are now 6-0 versus Clearwater this season. Three of Lakeland’s last four games have been one-run affairs while the fourth was won by two runs. Jake Thompson is third in the Florida State League with a 0.48 ERA and has held opponents to the fifth lowest average (.164) in the FSL to go with his 2-1 record. Guido Knudson is tied for second with three saves. Lakeland is third in the league with a 2.69 staff ERA and tenth with a .215 team batting average. The Flying Tigers’ defense has a .977 fielding percentage which is tied for second best in the league.

THE BLUE JAYS (13-3, 1st, 0.0 GB)
... Dunedin, which has the best record in all of baseball at 13-3, saw its seven-game win streak snapped on Saturday as Brevard County hung a 3-1 loss on the Blue Jays. Three of the Blue Jays’ last five wins have been by shutout while overall, Dunedin has posted five shutouts. Matt Boyd is a big reason for the Blue Jays success, leading the Florida State League with a 3-0 record, 0.39 ERA, and 25 strikeouts. Daniel Norris is fourth in the FSL with a 0.60 ERA to go with his 2-0 mark. In the bullpen, Arik Sikula is tied for the league lead with five saves while Taylor Cole is second with 23 Ks. Matt Newman is fourth in the FSL with a .356 average while KC Hobson has a FSL best 18 runs batted in. Dalton Pompey has swiped eight bases which is second most in the league. The Blue Jays have the lowest staff ERA in the league at 1.71 and fourth with a .264 team batting average. Dunedin has the FSL’s best defense with a .978 fielding percentage.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
    4/21 - LHP Jordan John (1-1, 7.82 ERA
) ... John was tagged for five runs on three hits and three walks in just 0.2 innings in his last start on April 15 at Brevard County. It was the second game in a row he has allowed five earned runs, but in the first game, it was over 7.0 innings. (Note: John is still listed as the probable starter on the Flying Tigers website as of 1 pm, but he was placed on the temporary inactive list on 4/19.)
    4/22 - RHP Jake Thompson (2-1, 0.48 ERA) ... Thompson has allowed just one run and 10 hits in 18.2 innings over his three starts this season. He has struck out 17 batters and walked five in those three outings. Opponents are batting just .164 against Thompson.
    4/23 - TBA (Note: This was Endrys Briceno’s slot, but he is on the DL)

DUNEDIN PROBABLE STARTERS
    4/21 - RHP Taylor Cole (2-0, 2.55 ERA)
... Cole has won his last two starts by holding the opponents to two runs in each of the starts. In his three starts this season, he has struck out 23 batters and walked five while allowing just nine hits in 17.2 innings.
    4/22 - RHP Ben White (1-0, 2.79 ERA) ... White held Daytona to one runs on six hits on April 16, but walked three with four strikeouts in 4.2 innings. He has only allowed three runs in his two starts despite the opponents hitting .308 against him.
    4/23 - TBA

STRONG EFFORT ... Edgar De La Rosa is still looking for his first win, but not for lack of effort. On Saturday at Clearwater, he allowed a second inning base hit and then held the Threshers hitless the next 6.0 innings. It was the longest outing for any Flying Tigers pitcher this season.

THROWING BLANKS ... Josh Turley has tossed 8.0 shutout innings over his last three outings with six strikeouts and a walk while Angel Nesbitt has not allowed a run in his last 5.2 innings over his last three appearances.

WINNING WILD ... Lakeland won its opening game against Clearwater as Chad Wright scored on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth inning for a 2-1 win. The next night, it was Connor Harrell’s turn for the heroics, crossing the plate in the top of the 13th on a two-out wild pitch on what was strike three in a 9-8 win. It was the eighth wild pitch on the night by Clearwater pitcher and the 11th WP in the game overall.

WRIGHT ROLLIN’ ... Chad Wright brings a seven-game hit-steak into this series. He has gone 10x25 in those games for a .357 clip with five runs scored.

SHARK HUNTER ... Connor Harrell had two hits in each of his last two games and went 5x14 (.357) with a double, a homer, and five runs scored in the recent Clearwater series. He has gone 7x25 (.280) against the Threshers this season.

GOIN’ DEEP ... After hitting zero home runs in the first eight games, Lakeland has hit five in the past nine contests, including a pair by Jeff Holm and one each by Austin Green, Connor Harrell and Jeff McVaney.

DOIN’ THE ROSTER SHUFFLE ... The transaction wire has been buzzing as late with one promotion, one on the temporary inactive list, two DL listings, one sent to extended spring and four additions. Reliever Calvin Drummond was placed on the disabled list on April 17 (retroactive to April 15) while starter Endrys Briceno was also placed on the DL on April 18, a day that also saw reliever Will Startup earn a promotion to AA Erie. Added to the Lakeland roster from Extended Spring Training were righthanded pitcher Tyler Clark and lefties Alex Burgos and Logan Ehlers. Clark was the 2012 Lakeland Pitcher of the Year after going 6-1 with a 0.63 ERA in 31 relief appearances. Burgos joins Lakeland for a third consecutive year and has a combined 11-15 record and a 4.19 ERA in 55 appearances in 2012 and 2013 for the Flying Tigers. Ehlers is 3-6 with a 3.15 ERA the two previous seasons. The moves continued on April 19 as pitcher Jordan John was placed on the Temporary Inactive List and David Gonzalez was sent back to Extended Spring Training. Returning  to the Flying Tigers from AA Erie is Corey Jones. However, on Monday, Jones was returned to Erie and Gonzalez rejoined Lakeland.

THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, a member of the 2012 FSL Hall of Fame Class, is in his 27th season as a minor league manager and is the active winningest manager in the minors. He ranks 21st all-time with 1,819 career wins (1,819-1,668) entering this series. He has a 211-206 record in three seasons with the Flying Tigers. He needs two more wins to tie Mark Meleski (213-202, 1997-99) for the fourth most wins for a Lakeland manager. In 2012, he led Lakeland to the Florida State League Championship to record his fourth overall championship and his third title in the FSL. He also led the 2001 Brevard County (Brewers) to a co-championship while his 2007 Clearwater (Phillies) squad won the crown outright. In addition, he coached the Lakewood Blue Claws (Phillies) to the 2006 South Atlantic League title.

ORGANIZATION NOTES
... Jake Thompson leads all Detroit Minor Leaguers with a 0.48 ERA while Guido Knudson is tops with three saves ... at 10-6, Lakeland has the best record in the organization, followed by West Michigan (9-7), Erie (6-8), and Toledo (7-10) ... former Flying Tigers Eugenio Saurez and Aaron Westlake, both now playing at AA Erie, are tied for second in the organization with three homers each. J.D. Martinez of Toledo, leads with 10.

UP NEXT ... The homestand continues on Thursday and Friday as the Tampa Yankees visit Joker Marchant Stadium for games at 6:30 pm and 7:11 pm, respectively, before the series concludes with a pair of games in Tampa on Saturday at 12 pm and Sunday at 1 pm.

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