THE SERIES ... Lakeland plays a critical two-game series against the Dunedin Blue Jays on June 4-5 with the competition opening Sunday at 1 pm in Lakeland and concluding with a 6:35 pm in Dunedin Monday. These two contenders have split their eight games this season. The Blue Jays have won two of the three played in Lakeland so far while the Flying Tigers have taken three of the five played in Dunedin.
THE FLYING TIGERS (39-23, 2nd, 3.5 GB) ... Lakeland split its four games at Fort Myers with each of the last three games ending in 4-3 scores. Lakeland won the opener 10-3 and took game three, 4-3, in 11 innings. The Flying Tigers are now 2-3 their last five games. Chad Wright has climbed to fifth in the Florida State League with a .320 batting average and ranks fourth with 43 runs scored. Jeff McVaney is fifth with 38 runs batted in and 16 doubles. Three Lakeland hurlers remain in the top ten in the league in Jake Thompson (3rd, 1.65); Kevin Eichhorn (5th, 1.96); and Josh Turley (2.08 to go with his 5-0 record and 58 strikeouts). Angel Nesbitt is the active leader in the league with 12 saves. The Flying Tigers are third in the FSL with a 2.89 staff ERA and are tied with Dunedin with a league-high nine shutouts. Lakeland is sixth in the league with a .255 batting average and third with 33 homers. The Flying Tigers defense is tops in the league with a .983 fielding percentage with 13 fewer errors than the second place team. Five Flying Tigers are the top defensive players at their respective positions: 1B–James Robbins (.997, 2 errors in 573 chances); SS–Dixon Machado, now at AA Erie (.972); 3B–Tyler Hanover (.965); OF–Connor Harrell (1.000, 137 chances); P–Josh Turley (1.000, 21 chances).
THE BLUE JAYS (42-19, 1st, 3.5 game lead) ... Dunedin, which is tied with Kane County (Cubs) for the most wins in baseball, also split its last series at home against St. Lucie. After dropping the opener 4-3, the Blue Jays took the next game, 7-4, before being shutout 5-0 in game three and winning the finale, 4-2. Dalton Pompey leads the Blue Jays with a .318 average which ranks sixth in the Florida State League while swiping a FSL-best 22 bases. Derrick Chung is tenth with a .311 mark while K.C. Hobson has driven in a league-best 51 runs and Dwight Smith is second with 44 runs scored. On the hill, Daniel Norris is second with a 1.32 ERA to go with his perfect 5-0 record and 73 strikeouts. Taylor Cole is eighth with a 2.12 mark while leading with 88 strikeouts (14 more than the net pitcher). Dunedin has lowest staff ERA in the league at 2.51 and leads the league with 518 strikeouts. At the plate, the team has a .256 team batting average which is fourth highest in the league. The Blue Jays have also stolen 71 bases, second only to the 76 swiped by Bradenton.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
6/08 - RHP Edgar De La Rosa (2-4, 3.04 ERA) ... De La Rosa gave up three runs on six hits and four walks in his last outing on June 3 against Palm Beach. In the outing before that, he tossed 7.0 shutout innings on May 29 at Jupiter. De La Rosa has had four outings in which he has not allowed a run. In his last four starts, he has surrendered 27 hits and 15 runs, although only eight were earned. He had his worst outing of the year the last time he faced the Blue Jays, taking the loss on May 24 after being tagged for eight runs—only two earned—on eight hits in just 3.2 innings.
6/09 - RHP Jake Thompson (6-1, 1.65 ERA) ... Thompson has allowed just two earned runs in 15.0 innings over his last three starts, but has only worked 5.0 in each of those three games. In his last start on June 4 at Fort Myers, he gave up two runs—one earned—on four hits with four strikeouts to get his sixth win. Thompson is 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA in five previous road games this season. The last time he faced Dunedin on May 3, he got the win after striking out seven in 7.0 scoreless innings.
RARE THEFTS ... Jeff McVaney swiped a pair of bases Saturday night to become just the second Flying Tiger to steal two bases in a game this season. His two stolen bases are the first this month by a Lakeland player. Since May 12, Lakeland has recorded just five stolen bases, matching the number of triples during the same time span.
TWO-TEAM RACE ... The battle for the first half division title comes down to Dunedin and Lakeland as the other four teams in the division have been eliminated from the race. Both teams will have eight games remaining in the first half after this series. Lakeland hosts Brevard County (31-29) for three games before the All-Star break and plays three against Clearwater (12-49)—two on the road and one at home. Dunedin hosts Daytona (25-35) for three games and then plays a three-game set at Brevard County (31-29).
FSL PLAY-OFF REMINDER ... The winner of the first half plays the winner of the second half at the end of the season. In the event of a repeat Division winner, the team with the next best overall record in the Division will qualify for the playoffs as a Wild Card team.
A THREE-BAGGER SHY ... Jeff McVaney singled, doubled and homered on Saturday at Fort Myers, falling a triple shy of being the first Lakeland batter to hit for the cycle since Michael Bertram accomplished the rare feat on July 18, 2009. McVaney finished the Fort Myers series going 8-for-16 over the four games with a pair of doubles, a solo homer, and four runs batted in. The three hits in the series finale marked the fourth time he has had a trio of hits in a game to go with his 12 two-hit games.
THE EIGHT BALL ... Curt Powell has had hits in each of the last eight games going 17x38 for a .447 pace since May 28. He has had at least one base hit in 25 of his last 28 games, putting up 42 hits in 118 at bats for a .356 pace. Powell had five hits in the series opener versus the Miracle for his second five-hit game this season. He has also had 12 games with two hits. Powell is hitting .352 in 23 home games and .274 in 26 road games.
DOWN SOUTH JUKIN’ ... Lakeland wrapped up its first half foray into the South Division with a 14-9 record. The Flying Tigers swept Jupiter; went 3-1 against Bradenton and Palm Beach; split with Fort Myers; and dropped three of four to St. Lucie.
MULTI-HIT KING ... Chad Wright brings a five-game hit streak into this series. Twice against Fort Myers he had two hits in a game and now has had two or more hits in 23 of his 56 games played. He has had 15 games with two hits and eight more with three hits. Wright is hitting .292 in 28 home games and jumps up to .348 in 28 road games.
THE TWO SIDES OF LEON ... Leon Durham put together a 10-game hit streak from May 23-June 2, collecting 13 hits in 77 at bats for a .277 clip. Since the streak ended, the Lakeland designated hitter has gone 1-for-19.
BEEN HERE A WHILE ... Lakeland moved into second place back on April 18 with a 9-8, 13 inning win over Clearwater and has remained there ever since. The Flying Tigers closed within 2.5 games on several occasions and were 6.0 games back of Dunedin on May 24.
ANOTHER LAKELAND ALUM MAKES THE BIGS ... Eugenio Suarez became the latest Flying Tiger alum to make it to the big leagues as the former Lakeland shortstop was called up by Detroit on Wednesday. Suarez in 25 games for the Flying Tiger last season, batting .311 with 12 runs batted in. In the field, he played 24 games at shortstop with a .931 fielding percentage and one game at second base. He made his Major League debut on June 4, going 0-for-1 after entering the game in the top of the seventh. He made his first Major League start on June 7, hitting a two-run homer off Jon Lester in his second at bat for his first big league hit and finished 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland will welcome the Brevard County Manatees to Joker Marchant Stadium next for a three-game series. Games one and two are on June 10 and 11 and are set for 6:30 pm starts with the finale June 12 at 10:30 am in the first of two summer camp day games.
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