THE SERIES ... The Flying Tigers hit the road for three games at Brevard County June 24-26. All games are set for 6:35 pm starts at Space Coast Stadium in Viera. The Manatees are one of only two teams in the FSL that have a winning record against the Flying Tigers (the other is St. Lucie which is 3-1 against Lakeland). Brevard County has won five of the seven games played in the season series, splitting four games in Lakeland and winning two at Space Coast Stadium as well as the one played at Dodger Town in celebration of Jackie Robinson Day on April 15.
THE FLYING TIGERS (2-3, 44-28; T-4th, 1.0 GB) ... Lakeland topped Clearwater 5-2 on Monday, scoring all five runs in the third inning off Aaron Nola, the Phillies’ top pick in the 2014 draft (seventh overall selection), who was making his professional debut. With the win, the Flying Tigers are 3-4 since the All-Star break. Josh Turley (6-0) is second in the Florida State League with a 1.91 ERA and tops with a 0.94 WHIP and .198 opponents’ percentage. Kevin Eichhorn (4-1) is third with a 1.93 earned run average and Jake Thompson (6-2) is ninth with a 2.43 ERA. Chad Wright is 10th in the FSL with a .306 average. Lakeland’s staff ERA of 2.93 is fourth best in the league while the .254 team batting average is fifth highest.
THE MANATEES (3-2, 39-32; T-1st, 1.0 Game Lead) ... Brevard County downed Dunedin 7-4 on Monday, putting up six runs in the second inning. The Manatees are 6-2 since the All-Star break. Tyler Wagner (6-4) is fourth in the league with a 1.96 ERA while Tanner Poppe is tied for fourth with nine saves. Michael Reed is second in the FSL with 19 stolen bases and third with a .413 on-base percentage. Tyrone Taylor leads with 27 doubles and 33 extra base hits. Nathan Orf has a league-high .448 on-base percentage. Brevard County has the lowest staff ERA (2.75) of any league team while the .252 team batting average is seventh best.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
6/21 - RHP Kevin Eichhorn (4-1, 1.93 ERA) ... Eichhorn struck out five and allowed one run on nine hits in 6.0 innings in his last start on June 19 at Tampa. He has now allowed six earned runs in his last 24.0 innings over four starts for a 2.25 ERA and is 1-1 in those four games. Eichhorn is 4-1 with a 1.37 ERA in eight road games, including sevens starts. This is his first start against the Manatees, although he has made a pair of relief appearances back on April 8 and 14.
6/22 - LHP Josh Turley (6-0, 1.91 ERA) ... Turley allowed just two hits in 6.0 shutout innings with eight strikeouts and three walks in getting the win in his last start at home on June 20 against Tampa. In his last four starts, he has allowed three runs (all coming in one game) in 27.0 innings for a 1.00 ERA and has struck out 23 in those four games. Turley is 5-0 with a 1.94 ERA in 10 starts this season after beginning 2014 with five appearances out of the bullpen. Like Eichhorn, this is Turley’s first start against Brevard County, but he does have two relief stints.
6/23 - RHP Jake Thompson (6-2, 2.43 ERA) ... Thompson worked 5.0 innings on June 21 in his last start at Clearwater and allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. In his previous start on June 9 at Dunedin, he was tagged for six runs on six hits in just 1.2 innings. Throw out that game and his ERA drops to 1.66. Thompson is 2-2 on the road with a 4.06 ERA in seven road starts. He took the loss in his only start against Brevard County this season, giving up one run on four hits in 7.0 innings on April 16.
THOMPSON HEADED TO FUTURES GAME ... Lakeland pitcher Jake Thompson has been named to the 2014 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game which will be played July 13 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Thompson will be joined by former Flying Tiger, Steven Moya.
MAKING THE BEST OF IT ... Harold Castro doesn’t get to see that much action, but when he does get on the field, he makes the best of it. Castro has played in 11 games and has hits in nine of those contests. He collected three base hits in Monday’s game against Clearwater, marking the third time this season he has had a trio of hits in one game.
STEADY DOES IT ... Connor Harrell has hits in six of his last seven games and nine of his last 11. He is batting .237 against lefties and .268 against righthanders. Harrell has a .292 average in 25 road games and .221 in 32 home games.
BIG MAC ... Jeff McVaney has hits in each of his last four games, going 6-for-14 with five runs batted in. He is third on the team with six homers on the season, five coming away from the cavernous Joker Marchant Stadium which is 420 to center and 340 down the lines.
SIR JAMES ... James Robbins entered Monday’s game tied with Connor Harrell for the team lead with seven homers. Robbins took over sole possession of the tead lead with a towering blast over the scoreboard in right field for his eighth round tripper. Seven of Robbins’ eight homers have come at home while hitting just one dinger on the road. Robbins has seven hits in 22 at bats against the Manatees with the seven hits representing the most hits by any Lakeland player in the series.
EIGHT IS GREAT ... In his last start on June 22 against Clearwater, Edgar De La Rosa took the loss despite giving up just one run on two hits with eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings. It was his third game with eight punch outs and now gives him 15 strikeouts in his last two starts in which he has allowed just one earned run in 14 innings.
BACK-TO-BACK SEVENS ... Yorfrank Lopez evened his record at 4-4 with a win on Monday against Clearwater. In that game, Lopez held the Threshers to one run with seven strikeouts—his second straight game with seven punch outs. He has now struck out 24 batters over his last four starts while allowing just three earned runs in 21.0 innings.
HEIR-APPARENT CLOSER ... With Angel Nesbitt now at AA Erie, manager Dave Huppert has turned to Brennan Smith, who picked up his fifth save on Monday and is now 5-for-6 in save opportunities in 2014.
IN AND OUT ... Lakeland has three home runs in the first five games of the second half. The Flying Tigers have hit homers in games 1, 3, and 5 of the second half while keeping the ball in the yard in games 2 and 4.
GIVE ME FOUR ... The Flying Tigers have scored four or more runs in a game 41 times this season, posting a 32-9 record in those games. When they fail to score at least four runs, the team is 12-19. Lakeland is 9-22 when the opponent scores four or more runs and 34-6 when limiting opponents to three or fewer runs.
PLAYING THE “D” ... Lakeland committed just one error in the three-game Clearwater series and continues to lead the Florida State League in fielding percentage with a .982 mark, five points better than the second place team. The Flying Tigers defense has been charged with just 50 errors on the season, 13 fewer than any other league team. James Robbins tops all FSL first baseman with a .995 fielding percentage with just three errors in 654 total chances. Connor Harrell leads all league outfielders with a perfect 1.000 fielding mark, having not committed an error in 162 chances this season.
THE ARM CATCHING THE ARMS ... Austin Green has gunned down 40.8 percentage of would-be base stealers this season—a mark that is third best in the league. The All-Star catcher has thrown out 20 of 49 runners.
UP NEXT ... After this series, Lakeland stays on the road for two games at Daytona, June 28-29, before closing out June with an off day on the 30th. Lakeland will then play nine home games in the first 10 days of July, including a seven-game home stand, July 4-10.
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