THE SERIES ... Lakeland continues one the road with three games at Daytona. The series gets underway Friday, June 27 at 7 pm and continues on Saturday, June 28, also at 7 pm. The finale is Sunday, June 29 at 1 pm. Lakeland was won five of the six previous meetings this season and is 2-1 against the Cubs at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The one Daytona win was a 2-1 decision in 12 innings on May 4. Lance Durham has 10 hits for the Flying Tigers in the series while Curt Powell has eight singles. Lakeland has hit seven homers in the six games. The Flying Tigers have outhit the Cubs .289 to .190 and outscored Daytona 43 to 21.
THE FLYING TIGERS (3-5, 45-30; T-5th, 2.0 GB) ... Lakeland dropped a 4-2 decision at Brevard County last night in a game was shortened to eight innings due to rain. Manatee pitcher Jorge Lopez went the distance for the visitors, limiting Lakeland to two hits thru the first seven innings. James Robbins finally got Lakeland on the board in the eighth with his team-leading 10th homer of the season. Lakeland is still looking to string some W’s together, going as the team is 8-10 since seeing an eight-game win streak snapped on June 2. Josh Turley remains second in the Florida State League with a 1.66 ERA to go with his perfect 7-0 record. Turley is also tops in the league withy a 0.97 WHIP and second with a .208 opponents’ batting average. Kevin Eichhorn (4-2) is seventh with a 2.39 earned run average. The Lakeland pitching staff has the fourth best ERA in the league at 3.02 while the team batting average of .253 is eighth.
THE CUBS (5-3, 41-33; T-1st, 1.0 Game Lead) ... Daytona has set a patter of win two, lose on, win two lose one the last nine games, going 6-3 doing that span to move into a first place tie with Brevard County, who the Flying Tigers last played. Last night, the Cubs were on the losing end of a 5-34 decision to Dunedin at home. Bijan Rademacher is fourth in the Florida State League with a .402 on-base percentage while Pin-Chieh Chen is tied for the FSL lead with six triples. Daytona is 11th in the league in both batting average (.244) and ERA (4.39).
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
6/27 - RHP Edgar De La Rosa (4-5, 2.82 ERA) ... De La Rosa took the loss to Clearwater in his last start despite holding the Threshers to one run on two hits and striking out eight in 7.0 innings. He has gone 7.0 innings in each of his last two starts with 15 strikeouts and just one run allowed on four hits. De La Rosa is 2-2 with a 2.59 ERA in six previous road starts this season. He pitched in back-to-back starts against Daytona on April 29 and May 5, taking the win on April 29, holding the Cubs to one hit in 7.0 shutout innings and eight strikeouts. In the second start, he was tagged for five runs (four earned) in 2.2 innings.
6/28 - RHP Yorfrank Lopez (4-4, 4.34 ERA) ... Lopez got the win against Clearwater in his last start on June 23, working 5.2 innings and allowing just one run on four hits with seven strikeouts. He has recorded 24 strikeouts in his last four starts and has a 2-1 record that quarter of games with a 1.27 earned run average. Lopez is 1-1 with a 3.23 ERA in seven previous road starts. He faced Daytona in consecutive starts on April 28 and May 4. In the first game, he surrendered six runs on eight hits in just 2.2 innings. In his second start, he gave up one run on two hits in 7.0 innings.
6/29 - RHP Kevin Eichhorn (4-2, 2.39 ERA) ... Eichhorn had his worst outing of the season in a loss at Brevard County on June 24, giving up five runs on eight hits in just 3.2 innings. The five runs matched his total allowed in three previous starts combined. After tossing back-to-back outings of 7.0 scoreless innings on May 7 and 13, Eichhorn has allowed 15 run in the next seven starts and is 1-2 with a 3.21 ERA. All of his decision have come in nine road appearances, including eight starts, where he has a 2.17 ERA. This will be his first appearance against the Cubs.
HOMERING JIM ... James Robbins has hit three homers in his last four games to give him a team-high ten on the season. However, Lakeland has been on the wrong end of the score the last two times he has gone yard. His 10 dingers is just two shy of Steven Moya’s total of 12 which led the 2013 Flying Tigers. Robbins is 5-for-14 with six RBI his last three games.
LUCKY 7 ... Josh Turley scatted eight hits on Wednesday night and held Brevard County to just one run over 7.0 innings to improve to a perfect 7-0 on the season. He is the first Lakeland pitcher to win his first seven decisions since P.J. Finegan ran off seven straight wins as a reliever in 2006. The last Lakeland starter to open the season with seven wins was David Darwin who in 1997 won his first eight games before tasting defeat. Darwin finished the campaign with a 10-1 record.
LUCKY 7, PART TWO ... Jeff McVaney brings a seven-game hit streak into the Daytona series, going 10-for-26 (.385) with four runs scored and six more driven in.
WITHER THE “O” ... Lakeland batted just .199 over the last two series and scored just 19 runs. The Flying Tigers pitchers have done their part to keep Lakeland games allowing 23 runs with 10 coming in a 10-4 loss in the opening game of the Brevard series. Lakeland batters have whiffed 40 times the last six games while drawing just 13 walks.
DRUM ON DRUMMOND ... Calvin Drummond has not allowed a run in his last seven appearances out of the bullpen, working 9.2 innings while giving up seven hits and recording 13 strikeouts and issuing four walks. On the road this season, Drummond has a sparkling 0.77 ERA in eight appearances.
YOU DA MAN ... With All-Star closer Angel Nesbitt’s promotion to AA Erie right after the All-Star game, the closer role has been manned by Brennan Smith. Smith has five saves in six save opportunities since April 28, taking the loss in one game. Five of his six saves on the season have come at Joker Marchant Stadium.
WHO CARES WHERE THEY PLAY? ... Lakeland batters have been consistent, hitting .252 at home and .253 on the road. The Flying Tigers have scored 141 runs at home and 173 on the road. Twenty homers have been hit at cavernous Joker Marchant Stadium while the squad has knocked 18 balls out of the park on the road. The pitchers don’t see a difference either, recording a 3.06 ERA at home and a 2.99 mark on the road. Lakeland is 22-13 at home this season and 23-16 on the road (and 0-1 at neutral site games).
WHAT LATE HEROICS? ... Lakeland won six games in its last at bat during the month of May but has just one late-game win in June, that being a 10-inning, 4-3 win over Palm Beach on June 2.
GET LOTSA HITS ... The Flying Tigers are 35-8 when outhitting their opponents this season and 6-20 when being outhit.
WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND ... Lakeland is a combined 20-11 in weekend games, posting a 7-3 record on Fridays, a 7-5 mark on Saturday and a 6-3 record on Sunday.
CONSISTENCY ... Lakeland has lost exactly 10 games in each month of the season so far, going 16-10 in April and 19-10 in May. The squad will have to sweep this season to finish with 10 losses as they enter with a 10-10 record so far in June.
PLAYING A MAN DOWN ... The Flying Tigers have had a little more room on the bench the last few games as the squad has been at 24 active players (one below the league maximum) since Angel Nesbitt’s promotion on April 19.
UP NEXT ... After an off day on June 30, Lakeland will play a four-game set against Tampa, competing at home on July 1 and 2 (both at 6:30 pm) before playing one game at the Yankees on July 3 (7:00 pm) and then capping the series at Joker Marchant Stadium on July 6 (1:00 pm).
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