THE SERIES ... 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 at 7 pm and Saturday at 6 pm.
THE FLYING TIGERS (18-10, 2nd, 2.0 GB) ... Lakeland took two of three at Daytona and has now won seven of the last eight games. The Flying Tigers pounded out 28 hits in the three games including a season-high 17 in an 8-6 win in game two and out-hit the Cubs 28-15, but only outscored Daytona 14-10. The Flying Tigers come into this series in second place in the North Division, a place they have been since April 18.
THE YANKEES (15-16, 4th, 8.0 GB) ... Tampa will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak after being swept by Dunedin and being outscored 22-8 in the three games. Zach Wilson brings an 11-[game hit streak into this series—the longest active streak in the Florida State League. He is 18x39 (.462) during the stretch with three homers and 14 runs batted in. Dante Bichette saw his seven-game hit streak come to a close on Tuesday. He had gone 10x31 (.323) during the streak with seven runs scored. Eric Jagielo has hits in six consecutive games and is 7x25 (.280) during the stretch while Jake Cave has gone 8x21 (.321) during a five-game hit streak. Peter O’Brien has hits in six straight games (7x22, .318) and hits in 10 of his last 11 games (15x41, .366).
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/07 - RHP Kevin Eichhorn (2-0, 2.22 ERA) ... Eichhorn has won his last two starts (both on the road) allowing just one run in each start. In his last start on May 1 at Dunedin, he held the Blue Jays to four hits with five strikeouts over 6.0 innings.
5/08 - RHP Jake Thompson (3-1, 0.97 ERA) ... Thompson tossed 7.0 shutout innings in his last start on May 3 at home against Dunedin and held the Blue Jays to three hits on seven strikeouts. It was his third start of 7.0 innings and his sixth in as many starts with five or more strikeouts. All three of his wins have come at home where he has a 0.70 ERA.
5/09 - RHP Yorfrank Lopez (1-2, 6.83 ERA) ... Lopez held Daytona to one run on a pair of hits in his last start on May 4 at the Cubs. He worked a season-high 7.0 innings in that start and it followed his shortest outing of the year (2.2) on April 28. All three of his decisions have come at Joker Marchant Stadium.
5/10 - RHP Edgar De La Rosa (1-3, 2.78 ERA) ... The reigning FSL Player of the Week, De La Rosa was tagged for five runs—four earned—on just two hits in 2.2 innings in his last start on May 5 at Daytona. He is 0-1 with a 4.61 ERA on the road this year compared to 1-2 with a 1.64 ERA at home.
FSL HONORS DE LA ROSA ... Edgar De La Rosa was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week for April 28-May 4. The 6-foot-6 righthander won his only start of the week, working 7.0 scoreless innings on April 29 against Daytona. In that game he struck out a team season-high eight batters while walking three in holding the Cubs to just one hit.
LOCAL JOINS CLUB ... Brennan Smith was promoted to AA Erie on Monday with local product Johnnie Kirkland, a 2013 25th round draft pick out of Lakeland’s Southeastern University, joining the Flying Tigers from Extended Spring Training.
NOT THE ONLY ONE ... Former Flying Tiger Wade Gaynor was selected as the Eastern League Player of the Week for April 28-May 4, going 6-for-29 with four homers and eight runs batted in at AA Erie. In addition, another former Lakeland pitcher, Austin Kubitza was tapped as the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week after striking out 12 and tossing two-hit ball over 7.0 shutout innings on May 1 at Lake County.
CLIMB ANOTHER RUNG ... Lakeland manager Dave Huppert, already the winningest active manager in the minors with a 1,829-1,673 record over 26-plus seasons, is three wins away from tying Roy Majtyka for 19th place on the all-time victories list for minor league managers. Majtyka coached 27 seasons (1968-97) in the Cardinals (8 years), Reds (4), Tigers (5), Braves (4), and Phillies (6) organizations.
LANCE-A-LOT ... Lance Durham has hits in six of his last seven games going 12x29 (.414) with five runs scored and nine runs batted in during the last seven games. He is batting .333 against righties, but just .174 against lefthanders. In 13 home games, Durham is batting a blistering .378, but his average drops to .171 in nine games on the road.
HOLM BOY ... Jeff Holm has had hits in each of his last four games, including a 3x4 night on May 5 at Daytona. He is 6x15 (.400) in the last four games with three runs scored, two doubles, a homer, and six runs batted in. Holm is hitting .305 against righthanders but has struggled against lefties, batting just .042 in 24 at bats. In 13 road games, he has a .300 average and .121 in 10 home games.
DYNO DIXON ... Dixon Machado saw his nine-game hit streak come to a close on May 4 in the first game at Daytona, but came back with hits in the final two games. He is now 21x54 (.389) with 15 runs scored, two doubles, a homer and five RBI since April 24. Machado has scored at least one run in 10 of his last 12 games with 15 runs scored over that span.
JOLLY JEFF ... Jeff McVaney has hits in five straight games (6x21, .286); nine of his last 10 games (14x41, .341); and 14 of his last 16 games (21x77, .273). He has scored at least one run in 10 of his last 11 games. McVaney is consistent at home and away, batting .288 at home and .283 on the road.
POWELL-ERFUL ... Curt Powell has hits in 10 of his last 12 games for a 13x45 (.289) stretch with six runs scored.
BOUNCING BACK? ... Chad Wright put together a 14-game streak from April 10-27 going 23x57 (.404) during the streak, but went 0x16 during the next four games. He has rebounded with four hits in the last two games, including a 3x5 game with a homer on May 5 at Daytona.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland has Mothers Day off and then heads to Bradenton for a four-game series against the Marauders on May 12-15 with all games getting underway at 6:30 pm. The Flying Tigers then make up for all the recent road trips with eight straight home games from May 16-23 against Saint Lucie and Charlotte.
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