THE SERIES ... This is one of those, four games, four days, four different times series. St. Lucie comes to town Friday, May 16 for a 7:11 pm game followed by a 6 pm game Saturday. On Sunday, the two teams hit the field for a 1 pm game before concluding the series Monday at 6:30 pm.
THE FLYING TIGERS (26-13, 2nd North, 2.0 GB) ... Lakeland is coming off a split of a doubleheader last night at Bradenton, taking the nightcap 4-3 in eight innings after dropping the opener 7-6 in 10 innings. Three of the four games in the Marauders series went to extra frames. The Flying Tigers have now won six of their last seven and 13 of their last 16 games dating back to April 28 and have remained in second place in the North Division since April 18. Lakeland has three pitchers in the top ten in the Florida State League in terms of earned run average in Kevin Eichhorn (4th, 1.49), Jake Thompson (7th, 1.80) and Josh Turley (9th, 2.04). Thompson is also fifth with 41 strikeouts while closer Angel Nesbitt is fourth with six saves. Dixon Machado has moved into fourth place in the league with 29 runs scored and tops all FSL shortstops with a .968 fielding percentage. Lakeland’s staff ERA of 3.01 is third best in the FSL while the team batting average of .243 is tied for ninth. The Flying Tigers continue to lead the league with a .985 fielding percentage. The team’s 23 errors are 15 fewer than any other team.
THE METS (22-18, 2nd South, 1.5 GB) ... St. Lucie lost the final three games of its series with Tampa and is 4-5 its last nine games, but is just 1.5 games behind Fort Myers. The Mets dropped a 10-5 decision to the Yankees in the finale which featured two hours and thirty minutes of rain delays. First baseman T.J. Rivera comes into the series with the second highest batting average (.388) in the minor leagues, trailing only Mookie Betts, who is hitting .401 for Portland Sea Dogs (Boston) of the AA Eastern League. Rivera also leads the league with 59 hits and is tied for the FSL lead with 33 RBI. Outfielder Brandon Nimmo leads the FSL with 37 runs scored, fifth with a .333 average and second with a .465 on-base percentage. Steven Matz is 10th in the league with a 2.09 ERA. The Mets lead the Florida State League with a .282 team batting average, 206 runs scored, 392 hits and 190 runs batted in while ranking second with 23 home runs. The staff ERA of 4.26 is third worst in the league, however.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/16 - RHP Tanner Bailey (1-0, 1.80 ERA) ... Bailey made his first career start on May 10 at Tampa and worked 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits. In two previous relief appearances, he had tossed a combined 5.2 scoreless innings and had allowed just two hits.
5/17 - LHP Josh Turley (3-0, 2.04 ERA) ... Turley is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA since moving into the starting rotation four games ago. He had his longest stint of the season in his last start on May 12, working 7.0 innings in a no-decision against Bradenton, holding the Marauders to a pair of runs on six hits with seven strikeouts
5/18 - RHP Kevin Eichhorn (3-0, 1.49 ERA) ... Eichhorn is 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA since joining the starting rotation five games ago. He tossed 7.0 scoreless innings in his last start on May 13 at Bradenton, holding the Marauders to three hits on three strikeouts. It was his second straight start with 7.0 scoreless innings pitched.
5/19 - RHP Jake Thompson (3-1, 1.80 ERA) ... Thompson had a tough going his last time out on May 15 at Bradenton as the Marauders roughed him up for four runs on eight hits in just 3.0 innings in his shortest stint of the season. The four runs allowed matched the number he had given up in his last four starts combined (23.1 innings). Thompson is 3-0 with a 0.88 ERA in five starts at Joker Marchant Stadium this season.
WINNING LATE ... In game two of the Bradenton doubleheader on Thursday, Chad Wright and Jeff McVaney hit back-to-back doubles to score the go-ahead run in the top of the 8th of the scheduled seven-inning game. It was the tenth win in the team’s final at bat this season. Lakeland is now 9-4 in one-run games and 17-6 in games decided by two runs or fewer.
TOUGH TYLER ... Tyler Clark is 3-1 his last four appearances out of the bullpen with a 0.00 ERA allowing just one unearned run in 4.1 innings in those four games. He had won three straight before taking the loss in the first game of the Bradenton doubleheader on Thursday.
LOFTY LOGAN ... Logan Ehler has also been hot out the pen, picking up a pair of wins in his last two outings, working 3.0 shutout innings in a win over Tampa on May 8 and 2.0 shutout innings for the victory over Bradenton in game two on Thursday.
DURABLE DURHAM ... Leon Durham enters this series with a seven game hit streak (8x26,.308) and has hits in 11 of his last 12 games (17x47, .363) with 12 runs batted in those 12 outings. He is hitting .378 (17x45) in 13 home games this season, but is just .212 in 14 away games. Durham’s batting average jumps to .340 with runners on base after batting .234 with the sacks empty.
AN ANGEL IN THE BULLPEN ... With the promotion of Guido Knudson to Erie, Angel Nesbitt has taken over the closer role and has passed with flying colors. Nesbitt has posted five straight saves for the Flying Tigers and is six-for-six in save opportunities this year.
HITTER HARRELL ... Connor Harrell brings a six-game hit streak into this series (8x22, .364). He is batting .313 in 20 road games, but is struggling at home with just a .164 mark in 17 games. Most of those struggles came early in the season as he hit .209 in April, but has rebounded with a .320 average in 13 games so far in May.
POWELL ON A ROLL ... Curt Powell has hits in his last five games (7x21, .333) with three doubles and has hits in nine of his last 10 games (12x39, .308). He is batting .318 in 12 games at Joker Marchant Stadium, but is hitting just .230 in 19 road games.
ROBBINS DRIVES IN FOUR ... James Robbins broke into the box score in a big way on Thursday with four runs batted in during game one of the doubleheader at Bradenton. It was his second four-RBI game of the year.
ROSTER MOVES ... After going silent for a couple of days, the transaction wire buzzed with seven moves in the last five days. On May 12, catcher Patrick Leyland, who began the season on the Disabled List with an ankle injury, was activated from the DL and transferred to West Michigan. The next day, righthander Guido Knudson was promoted to AA Erie with lefty Kyle Longstreth joining the club from Extended Spring Training (EST). Yesterday, lefthander Jade Todd, who began the season on the DL, was added the roster with righthander Johnnie Kirkland being sent back to EST. Kirkland, who played at Southeastern University in Lakeland, had been with the Flying Tigers since May 5, but did not see any action. Friday morning, Jared Reaves was activated from the disabled list from where he had been since April 10, while David Gonzalez was transferred back to EST.
DEBUT TIME ... Two Flying Tigers made their debuts on Thursday at Bradenton on May 15. Ryan Longstreth come on in relief in game one of the doubleheader and worked 3.0 scoreless innings retiring the first seven batters he faced before allowing one hit. Jade Todd followed Longstreth in the first game, tossing a 1-2-3 ninth, ending with a strikeout.
UP NEXT ... The Flying Tigers’ eight-game home streak continues with four games against Charlotte with games May 20-22 at 6:30 pm and May 23 at 7:11 pm.
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