THE SERIES ... The Flying Tigers welcome the Daytona Cubs to Joker Marchant Stadium for three games on Saturday, July 5 at 6:00 pm, Sunday, July 6 at 1:00 pm, and Monday, July 7 ay 6:30 pm. Lakeland holds a slim 5-4 advantage in the series, with all five wins coming in the first six games. The Cubs swept the Flying Tigers on June 27-28 in Daytona, with each contest being decided by one run, including a 9-8, 11-inning, decision on June 29. Connor Harrell and Curt Powell each have 13 hits in the series while Lance Durham and Jeff McVaney each have 11 knocks. Austin Green and James Robbins have both hit two homers while Durham and Robbins each have seven runs batted in. Josh Turley is 2-0 against the Cubs with a 0.69 ERA.
THE FLYING TIGERS (3-11, 6th, 7.5 GB; 45-36 overall) ... Lakeland will be looking to snap a seven-game losing streak dating back to June 26 that has resulted in a 3-11 record in the second half. The Flying Tigers are 10th in the FSL with a .248 team batting average and have struck out the third most times of any league team. Lakeland batters have been plunked by a pitch 42 times this season—second most in the FSL. Lakeland pitchers are fourth with a 3.21 staff ERA.
THE CUBS (8-5, 3rd, 2.0 GB; 34-47 overall) ... Daytona dropped the first two games of its series to Brevard County on July 1-2 and then had games on July 3-4 rained out. The Cubs are 9-5 since June 18. Marco Hernandez leads Daytona with a .287 average and is 11x26 (.423) his last six games. Gioskar Amaya and Bijan Rademacher are right behind with .282 and .280 averages, respectively. Dan Vogelbach provides the punch and leads the squad with 19 doubles, eight homers and 41 runs batted in. Albert Almora is 9x17 his last four games and has hits in 12 of his last 14 games. He is 21x56 for a .375 average since June 17. Starling Peralta leads the Cubs with five wins and is tied with 60 strikeouts with 18 of his 20 appearances coming out of the bullpen. Daytona has the second lowest team batting average (.245) of any league team while the staff ERA of 4.33 is second highest. Cubs pitchers are tied with Clearwater in allowing the most homers in the league.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS:
7/04 - RHP Yorfrank Lopez (4-5, 4.80 ERA) ... Lopez gave up a season-high-tying six runs in taking the loss at Daytona on June 28. In that game, he surrendered eight hits in 4.0 innings, marking only the second time in 11 starts dating back to May 4 that he failed to go at least five frames. He had been touched for seven runs in his previous six starts. Lopez has made three previous starts against Daytona, giving up 13 runs on 18 hits in 13.2 innings with six strikeouts and five walks, leaving him with a 0-1 record and a 8.56 ERA versus the Cubs.
7/05 - RHP Kevin Eichhorn (4-2, 2.44 ERA) ... In his only other start against the Cubs on June 29, Eichhorn gave up two runs on four hits in 5.2 innings with five strikeouts and zero walks. In his previous game on June 24 against Brevard County, he allowed five runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings and took the loss. He is looking for his first win since May 28. Eichhorn is 0-0 with a 2.70 ERA in six previous home appearances, including four starts.
7/06 - RHP Jake Thompson (6-4, 3.08 ERA) ... Thompson has been tagged for four runs in each of his last two starts, losing both, on a combined 17 hits in 9.1 innings. He struck out six in his last start on July 1 against Tampa. He has not recorded a win since June 4. Thompson is 4-1 with a 1.82 ERA in seven previous home starts. This is his first appearance against the Cubs.
TURN ON THE BAT SIGNAL ... Lakeland has been missing its offense the last three games, culminating in the July 4 fizzle that saw the squad limiting to a pair of Connor Harrell singles over the 12 innings. The Flying Tigers are a combined 15x96 for a .156 average the last trio of contests with just five runs scored. Three times in the last 11 games, the squad has been shut out and is averaging 3.4 runs per game in the second half. Lakeland has not reached double figures in runs scored since a 10-3 win over Fort Myers on June 4.
HE’S GOT HIS BAT ... Connor Harrell was the only Lakeland batter to get a base hit in the 12-inning loss to Tampa. The Lakeland center fielder brings a six-game hit streak into this series in which he is 11x25 for a .440 clip. He has five runs scored in that stretch with four doubles.
HE’S BACK AND OUTTA HERE ... After missing three games due to health issues, Lakeland manager Dave Huppert returned to the dugout on July 3 in Tampa. In his second game back on July 4 at home, he didn’t get to see the ending as the fourth-year Flying Tigers skipper was ejected after arguing a call that ended the bottom of the 11th inning. It was Huppert’s first ejection in 2014 and his first since July 26, 2012.
SNAP A STREAK ... The Flying Tigers enter the Daytona series looking to break out of a season-worst seven-game losing streak—the longest streak since the 2010 squad dropped seven games from June 24-July 3 that season. The last time Lakeland dropped eight consecutive games came in 2007 when the team closed out the second half that season with a 4-21 record. What has been extra tough for Lakeland fans is that five of the seven losses have been by one run and a sixth by two runs. In this half, Lakeland has dropped eight games by one run. Two of the last four losses were extra inning affairs.
RECENT FOURTH OF JULY CROWDS ... Lakeland drew 5,062 fans to Friday night’s Independence Day game—the largest July 4th crowd since 2011 when 5,349 fans witnessed a 10-8 Lakeland win over Tampa. Friday’s crowd was the second largest of the 2014 season for the Flying Tigers, topped on by a Bright House Network crowd of 5,106 on May 15.
NOW LEADING ... Thanks to 8.0 innings of shutout ball in last night’s game, Josh Turley (7-0) has moved atop the Florida State League standings with a 1.69 earned run average. With eight strikeouts on Independence Day, Turley is now tied for fourth with 76 strikeouts. He also leads the FSL with a 0.94 WHIP and a .199 opponents batting average.
ALSO UP THERE ... Kevin Eichhorn (4-2) is fifth in the league with a 2.44 mark while Edgar De La Rosa (4-6) is ninth with a 2.59 ERA.
STINGY STARTERS ... In the last two games, Lakeland starting pitchers have not been scored upon in 11.1 innings. Starters have combined to strike out 20 batters in the last four games with five walks.
WITHER THE PEN ... The Lakeland bullpen has been a sore spot for pitching coach Mike Maroth of late. In the last four games (and 18.2 innings), the Flying Tiger relievers have combined to give up 22 runs (19 earned) for a 9.16 earned run average. The corps has recorded 23 strikeouts in those four games, but have also walked 17 batters.
JAY-JAYS ... James Robbins is fourth in the Florida State League with 11 home runs while Jeff McVaney is fifth with 49 runs batted in.
START THE COUNTDOWN ... Lakeland enters the Daytona series with 3,990 all-time wins, needing 10 more to reach 4,000 victories. Lakeland has a 3,990-4,216 record since 1963.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland continues with its long homestand by hosting the Brevard County for three games on July 8-10. Following the Manatees series, the Flying Tigers will play at St. Lucie on July 11-14 and at Charlotte on July 16-19. Once returning to Joker Marchant Stadium on July 20, Lakeland will play 16 of the next 20 games at home with two eight game home stands extending into August sandwiched around a four-game road trip. As a reminder, the July 22 game has been moved to a 10:30 am start. The Flying Tigers will close out the 2014 season with just seven home dates in the final three weeks.
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