THE SERIES ... After taking Memorial Day off, the Flying Tigers return to action on Tuesday with four games at Jupiter. Games 1, 2, and 4 at set for 6:35 pm start times while game 3 on Thursday is scheduled for a 10:35 am first pitch. Lakeland and Jupiter split their season series in 2013 with each club taking three of four game in the other’s home park.
THE FLYING TIGERS (30-19 2nd North, 5.0 GB) ... Lakeland is coming off a 6-0 shutout of division leading Dunedin on Sunday behind a two-hit, 7.0 inning effort by Yorfrank Lopez. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Flying Tigers who are 4-7 their last 11 games. Kevin Eichhorn and Jake Thompson are third and fourth, respectively, in the Florida State League in terms of earned run average. Eichhorn is 3-0 with a 1.79 ERA while Thompson is 4-1 with a 1.80 mark. Eichhorn is also third with a 1.03 WHIP and a .202 opponents batting average. Lakeland has the third lowest staff ERA (3.01) of any staff team and has posted seven shutouts—tied for the most in the league. The Flying Tigers rank seventh in the league with a .249 team batting average. The Flying Tigers are 15-8 on the road this season and 7-2 in day games.
THE HAMMERHEADS (22-28, 6th South, 8.0 GB) ... Jupiter fell 6-1 at Fort Myers on Sunday and has now lost three straight and seven of its last 10. All three of the wins for the Hammerheads in that stretch were by one run. Austin Barnes brings a 13-game hit streak into third season and has gone 20x49 (.408) in posting the second longest active streak in the Florida State League this season. Scott Lyman is ninth in the league with a 2.26 ERA while Joseph O’Gara is tied for third with eight saves. Trevor Williams is one of four players tied with five wins. Viosergy Rosa has driven in 34 runs-—fourth most in the FSL—while Matt Juengel is second with 16 doubles and third with 21 extra base hits. Jupiter is third in the league with a .262 team batting average and, as a team, has struck out the fewest time of any FSL club—but has hit the fewest homers (14). The staff ERA of 3.78 ranks eighth in the league.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/27 RHP Jake Thompson (4-1, 1.80 ERA) ... Thompson rebounded from his worst outing of the year on May 15 against Bradenton where he allowed a season-high four runs in just 3.0 innings, to get the win against Charlotte on May 21 after holding the Stone Crabs to one run on three hits over 5.0 innings with four strikeouts and four walks. 5/28 LHP Josh Turley (3-0, 2.42 ERA) ... Turley allowed a season-high four runs (three earned) in his last start on May 22 against Charlotte in a no-decision. He has now allowed a total of seven runs over 20.0 innings (3.15 ERA) in his last three starts but in 0-0 in that trio of games. Turley has recorded 19 strikeouts in his last three games, but also given up 20 hits. He is 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA is six starts this season.
5/29 RHP Kevin Eichhorn (3-0, 1.79 ERA) ... Eichhorn struck out five in his last start on May 23 against Charlotte and held the Stone Crabs to a pair of runs on three hits over 6.1 innings, but did not factor into the decision. He has given up a total of six runs over 38.0 for a 1.42 ERA in his last six starts with 19 strikeouts. All three of his wins this season have come on the road where he has a 1.24 earned run average.
5/30 RHP Edgar De La Rosa (1-4, 3.32 ERA) ... De La Rosa gave up eight runs on eight hits in just 3.2 innings at Dunedin in his last start on the road May 24. However, only two of those runs were earned as the normally sure-handed Lakeland defense committed a pair of errors. It was his second straight game giving up eight hits and his third straight start in which he has failed to make it to the fifth inning. De La Rosa has given up nine earned runs over 10.1 innings in his last three starts.
BACK TO THE SOUTH ... After having returned to the North Division for a brief series in Dunedin, the Flying Tigers head back to the South Division where they have a 6-6 record. Lakeland is 3-1 against Bradenton, 2-2 versus Charlotte, and 1-3 against St. Lucie. Lakeland is 24-14 against the North Division with a perfect 6-0 record against Clearwater, 5-1 vs. Daytona, 8-4 vs. Tampa, 4-4 vs. Dunedin, and 1-5 vs. Bradenton.
RAVES FOR REAVES ... Jared Reaves has hits in each of his last six game and is 12x27 (.444) during that stretch.
CRANK OUT THE HITS ... Lakeland collected 15 hits on Sunday, marking the fifth time in the last eight games they have reached double figures in hits. The team is batting .268 (84x314) in its last eight games with 28 doubles, two triples and four home runs. When the Flying Tigers outhit their opponents, they have a 23-6 record. When they are outhit they are 5-12. The team has split the four games in which they had the same number of hits as their opponent.
LOTSA INNINGS ... Lakeland played a 19-inning game at home Friday night and followed that with a doubleheader on the road at Dunedin Saturday evening. Heading back to Lakeland Saturday night, the team returned to Dunedin on Sunday for a 1 pm game. That works out to 42 innings and 11 hours and 48 minutes of baseball played in just over 44 hours. Let’s hope they enjoyed their off day on Monday.
NUMBER 9, NUMBER 9 ... Jeff McVaney brings a nine-game hit streak into this series having gone 12x41 (.317) since May 18 with three runs scored, two doubles, a homer, and five runs batted in.
CRAZY CURT ... Curt Powell is 20x59 (.339) his last 13 games and has had hits in 17 of his last 19 games, including an 11-game hit streak from May 10-21.
ALL OR NOTHING .. Chad Wright has had two or more base hits in six of his last nine games (15x40, .375). In the other three games, he has gone hitless. Wright leads the Flying Tigers with 17 multi-hit games including six games with three hits.
TEA FOR TANNER ... Tanner Bailey went the distance in game two of the Saturday doubleheader at Dunedin to toss Lakeland’s first complete game of the season. Bailey held the Blue Jays to two runs (one earned) on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Albeit just six innings, the shutout came in only Bailey’s third career start.
ZIPS FOR YORFRANK ... Yorfrank Lopez picked up the win on Sunday with 7.0 shutout innings pitched at Dunedin in the Flying Tigers’ 6-0 win. Lopez held the Blue Jays to a single in the first and another single in the seventh before turning the game over the bullpen.
NESBITT KEEPS IT REAL ... Angel Nesbitt has not allowed a run in any of his last eight appearances out the bullpen and has a streak of 9.1 scoreless innings over those eight appearances.
BACK IN THE FOLD ... Alex Burgos and Ryan Longstreth were added back to the Lakeland roster from Extended Spring Training on Monday with Joe Jimenez and Daryl Norris were sent back across the runway. The Burgos and Longstreth were sent to EST after each threw 4.0 shutout innings on Friday night and would not have been available for the Dunedin series on Saturday and Sunday. Norris saw action in the first game of the twinbill against the Blue Jays and tossed 2.0 scoreless innings.
THIRST FOR THURSDAYS .. Lakeland is 7-2 on Thursdays and the team is 6-3 on Saturdays. The only day they have a losing record is Wednesdays when the record falls to 2-4.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland next plays at Joker Marchant Stadium on Saturday, May 31 when it will open a four-game series against Palm Beach. The Flying Tigers then hit the road for four games in Fort Myers as Lakeland closes in on the end of the first half which wraps up June 18.
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