THE SERIES ... Lakeland plays a critical series with division leading Dunedin on the road May 24-25. The series opens on May 24 with a doubleheader as the teams make up a rained out game from May 2. A third game is slated for Sunday, May 25 at 1 pm. Lakeland holds a 3-2 advantage in the series so far, taking both games played at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium, 7-1 and 2-0. Both teams are 13-8 in the month of May.
THE FLYING TIGERS (29-18 2nd, 4.0 GB) ... Lakeland is coming off a four-game split with Charlotte that concluded in a 5-3, 19-inning loss to the Stone Crabs last night. The game got underway at 7:14 and concluded at 12:24 this morning. The Flying Tigers are 4-6 in their last ten games, but remain in second place in the North Division. Lakeland is third in the league with a 3.09 staff ERA and seventh with a .246 team batting average. Lakeland has 25 homers which is tied for third most in the league.
THE BLUE JAYS (33-14, 1st, 4.0 game lead) ... Dunedin is also coming off a series split, having gone 2-2 against Fort Myers. Like the Flying Tigers, the Blue Jays also lost last night, although they fell 4-2 in a regulation nine innings. Daniel Norris leads the Florida State League with a 0.80 ERA and is a perfect 3-0 while Taylor Cole leads all FSL hurlers with 73 strikeouts—21 more than the next pitcher. Arik Sikula leads all of minor league baseball with 14 saves to go with his 0.96 ERA. Dalton Pompey is fifth in the FSL with a .333 average while leading the league with 18 stolen bases. He is also fourth with a .411 on-base percentage and third with a .506 slugging percentage. Derrick Chung is 10th with a .320 mark and K.C. Hobson is second in the league with 37 runs batted in. The Blue Jays pitching staff leads the FSL with a .241 ERA and 391 strikeouts. They also have walked the fewest batters of any staff. The team average of .260 is fourth highest in the league.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/24 (GM1) - RHP Tanner Bailey (1-1, 4.20 ERA) ... Bailey made his last start on May 16, taking the loss against St. Lucie after giving up five runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings. He is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in two games as a starter after posting a 1-0 record and a 0.00 ERA in two trips out of the bullpen. He is 0-0 in two road appearances this season allowing a pair of runs over 7.2 innings. He has not faced Dunedin this season.
5/24 (GM2) - RHP Edgar De La Rosa (1-3, 3.18 ERA) ... Three starts ago, on April 29 at Daytona, De La Rosa tossed a one-hitter over 7.0 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts for his only win of the season. In his last two starts he has allowed seven runs on 10 hits in just 6.2 innings of work. Against St. Lucie on May 19, De La Rosa allowed three runs on eight hits in 4.0 innings. He is 0-1 with a 4.61 in three previous road starts and will be facing Dunedin for the first time this season.
5/25 - RHP Yorfrank Lopez (1-3, 6.28 ERA) ... Lopez was roughed up for eight runs on a season-high 10 hits allowed in 5.1 innings against Charlotte on May 20. Only three of the eight runs were earned, marking the third consecutive start he has allowed three earned runs. In his last three starts, Lopez has given up 14 runs (nine earned) on 23 hits with eight strikeouts and six walks. He took the loss in his only start against the Blue Jays this season, surrendering six runs on nine hits in 3.0 innings on April 23.
LET’S PLAY 19 ... Lakeland battled Charlotte for five hours and ten minutes Friday night, only to fall 5-3 in 19 innings. Here are some tidbits the game: it was the longest game in the Florida State League this season; it was Lakeland’s longest game since beating Daytona 3-2 in 20 innings on June 8, 2008; Curt Powell went 5-for-8; Lakeland had 77 at bats; five Lakeland pitchers combined to strike out 19 batters while Flying Tigers hitters whiffed 15 times; Lakeland was 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position in the game and stranded 20 runners; Alex Burgos and Ryan Longstreth each pitched 4.0 shutout innings; Drew Longley, the team’s number two catcher, caught all 19 innings; Jake DePew, a rostered catcher who got the win for Charlotte with 3.1 scoreless innings pitched, had not pitched professionally and hadn’t taken the mound since his senior year in high school; the loss was Lakeland’s ninth by two or fewer runs.
THE CLOSER ... Angel Nesbitt is tied for third with eight saves and is a perfect 8-for-8 in save opportunities. He has not allowed a run in his last seven outings and just one run in that span.
GIVING HIS TEAM A SHOT ... Alex Burgos came on to start the ninth inning for Lakeland with his team locked in a 3-3 tie with Charlotte. Burgos was perfect over the next four innings, retiring all 12 men he faced in order. He sent down eight of them on strikeouts. Burgos has not allowed a run in his last 7.2 innings.
CLOSE BEHIND ... Heading into the 13th inning of Friday’s marathon, Lakeland manager Dave Huppert turned to Ryan Longstreth who had just joined Lakeland on May 15. Longstreth responded with four more shutout innings to run his shutout streak to 10.0 innings.
THURSDAY’S HERO ... Tyler Hanover tripled with the bases loaded to spark a four-run seventh inning and then drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth as Lakeland topped Charlotte 6-4 on Thursday. It was Hanover’s fourth 4-RBI game of his career.
FIVE BASE KNOCKS ... Curt Powell collected five singles in Friday’s game to register the first five-hit game for a Flying Tiger since Aaron Westlake went 5x6 on Aug. 15, 2013 against Dunedin. Powell is the seventh player in the Florida State League with a five-hit game this year. He saw an 11-game hit streak snapped on Thursday and is now 19x54 (.352) his last 12 games.
FLYING HIGH ... Jared Reaves is 7x16 his last three games for a .438 pace ... Connor Harrell has five hits over the last two games with three runs scored ... Jeff McVaney brings a six-game hit streak into this series going 9x30 (.300).
UP, DOWN ... Chad Wright has had a little roller coaster action going the last five games, getting two hits, then none, then three hits, then none, and then two hits, once again. Wright has had a team-high 15 multi-hit games this season, including four games with three hits.
INFIELD SHUFFLE ... On May 21, Lakeland said goodbye to shortstop Dixon Machado who was promoted to AA Erie. Joining the club is second baseman Harold Castro who was called up from Extended Spring Training. Castro played in 21 games for Lakeland in 2013, batting .274 with 11 runs batted in. He also played 41 games for West Michigan, turning in a .231 average.
DOUBLEHEADER HELP ... With a Saturday night doubleheader on tap and relievers Alex Burgos and Ryan Longstreth both working 4.0 innings of relief on Friday, Lakeland called up fresh arms Joe Jimenez and Daryl Norris from Extended Spring Training with Burgos and Longstreth being sent to EST.
FLASHING THE LEATHER ... Lakeland continues to lead the Florida State League with a .975 fielding percentage and has committed 18 fewer errors than any other team in the league. James Robbins tops all FSL first-baseman with a .995 fielding mark. Dixon Machado, now with AA Erie, has the best fielding percentage among all FSL shortstops.
TIME CHANGE ... Please note that the July 22 game vs. the Jupiter Hammerheads, originally scheduled for 6:30 pm, has been changed to a 10:30 am start time to accommodate area summer recreation programs.
UP NEXT ... After an off day on Monday, May 26, Lakeland hits the road to play four games at Jupiter May 27-30 before returning to Joker Marchant Stadium on May 31 to face Palm Beach.
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