THE SERIES ... Lakeland travels to Daytona May 4-6 for games at 5:35 pm on Sunday, 7:05 pm on Monday, and 10:35 am on Tuesday. The Flying Tigers swept the Cubs in their first series this season. After winning 11-10 in the opener that saw both teams hit grand slams, Lakeland shutout Daytona 7-0 in game two and won big in game three, 11-2.
THE FLYING TIGERS (18-10, 2nd, 2.0 GB) ... Lakeland has won five in a row coming into the Daytona series and has outscored opponents in the last five games by a combined 38-13 score, including 27-3 the last four games. Starting pitcher has been stellar for the Flying Tigers as late, having allowed just one run in the last four games for a 0.34 ERA and just 11 hits in those four outings. The starters have recorded 24 strikeouts and issued just eight walks over the last 26.1 innings and four games. The bullpen has been doing its job as well, giving up just two runs the last four games for a 1.86 earned run average. Jake Thompson has been a big contributor, going 3-1 while ranking third in the Florida State League with a 0.97 ERA. His 35 strikeouts is tied for fourth. Brennan Smith is second among league relievers with a .145 opponents batting average while Guido Knudson is third with 12.41 strikeouts per 9.0 innings pitched.
THE CUBS (9-17, 5th, 10.0 GB) ... Daytona hasn’t played since being swept by the Flying Tigers April 28-30 in Lakeland as the series at Clearwater was rained out all three nights. Gioskar Amaya leads the Cubs with a .408 average in 15 games this season while Bijan Rademacher is next with a .355 mark, which is fourth in the FSL for those batters with 2.7 plate appearances per game. Marco Hernandez is the only other Daytona hitter over .300 on the year with a .321 batting average, which ranks ninth in the league. Felix Pena is fifth in the FSL with a 1.55 ERA, but is 1-3 on the year. Rob Zastryzny and Jose Rosario each have 21 strikeouts to lead the staff.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/04 - RHP Yorfrank Lopez (1-2, 8.71 ERA) ... Lopez gave up six runs in just 2.2 innings his last start on April 28 to the Cubs, but thanks to a Lakeland rally, did not take a loss in the game. It was his second straight start allowing six runs and he has now surrendered 17 runs and 21 hits in his last 10.2 innings over three starts.
5/05 - RHP Edgar De La Rosa (1-3, 1.91 ERA) ... De La Rosa held the Cubs to just one hit in 7.0 shutout innings in getting his first win of the year in his last start on April 29. He struck out eight in that game for a second straight outing and has given up seven hits and just two runs in his last 21.0 innings over his last three starts. De La Rosa has held opponents to a .179 average—second best in the league.
5/06 - RHP Josh Turley (2-0, 2.08 ERA) ... Turley gave up four hits and struck out four over 6.1 scoreless innings in getting the win in his last start on April 30 against the Cubs. That outing was just his second start this season after making his first five appearances out of the bullpen. He has allowed just three runs in his last 18.1 innings.
HOME RUN DERBY ... With Jeff McVaney going deep on Saturday, the Flying Tigers have now homered in six straight games with a total of ten homers. Lakeland has now hit 17 home runs in the last 21 games after not going deep in the first eight games of the year.
TOP GLOVES ... Lakeland has the top defense in the league with a .983 fielding percentage having committed just 19 errors in 28 games-—six fewer that any other club.
DOUBLE DIGIT HITS ... Lakeland saw its streak of games with 10 or more hits come to a close on Saturday. The Flying Tigers had six straight games with double digit hits before being held to five by Dunedin on Saturday. Lakeland is now 73x239 during the last seven games for a .305 clip. The Flying Tigers have had nine doubles, six triples and ten home runs in those seven games.
MUCHO MACHADO ... Dixon Machado carries a nine-game hit streak into this series, going 17x39 (.436) with 12 runs scored and four more runs driven in. The nine-game streak is the longest active streak in the Florida State League.
HOWDY HARRELL ... Connor Harrell brings an eight-game hit streak into the Daytona series going 11x29 (.379) with seven runs scored. He has hit four home runs in the last eight games with 13 RBI. The streak is the second longest active streak in the FSL.
MORE OF McVANEY ... Jeff McVaney has hits in 12 of his last 14 games to go 19x58 (.328) during those 14 games with three triples, a homer, and nine runs batted in. McVaney has scored a run in nine straight games, crossing the plate a total of 11 times.
GOOD MORNING, GOOD MORNING ... After executing their own Education Day Game on April 30 with an 11-2 victory over Daytona, Lakeland will play two more morning games this week facing the Cubs at 10:35 on Tuesday morning in Daytona and two days later, hosting a second Education Day Game on Thursday, May 8 against the Yankees.
WINNING CLOSE ... Lakeland is 6-2 in one-run games this season and 4-1 in games decided by two runs. The Flying Tigers are also 2-1 in extra innings this season.
SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALL RIGHT ... With Lakeland’s 2-0 win on Saturday night, the Flying Tigers are now a perfect 5-0 on the last day of the week.
WHY THE LONG BREAK? ... Lakeland plays just two home games the first 15 days of May. While the Flying Tigers are on the road, the Florida College System Activities Association State Baseball Tournament will be played at Joker Marchant Stadium on May 9-14. Local Polk State joins Palm Beach State, Eastern Florida State, Gulf Coast State, Tallahassee, State College of Florida, Chipola, Central Florida, St. John’s River State and Miami Dade. Games are scheduled for 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, and 7 pm on May 9-11. Three games are slated for May 12 at 10 am, 1 pm, and 7 pm and May 13 at 1 pm and 4 pm. The championship game will be played May 14 at 10 am (with a second game to follow, if necessary).
UP NEXT ... Lakeland heads back across I-4 to play at Tampa on Wednesday at 7 pm before returning back to Lakeland to host the second Education Day Game of the year on Thursday at 10:30 am. The series returns to Tampa for games on Friday (7 pm) and Saturday (6 pm).
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