NOTE: On June 28, the Lakeland Flying Tigers issued the following statement regarding manager Dave Huppert: “Lakeland manager Dave Huppert will be away from the team indefinitely for health reasons. We wish Dave a full and speedy recovery and look forward to having him back leading the Flying Tigers. Detroit Tigers Minor League Field Coordinator Bill Dancy will serve as manager for the immediate future.”
INTERIM MANAGER BILL DANCY ... Bill Dancy joined the Detroit organization last season as the minor league field instructor. A 1974 graduate of Lakeland’s Florida Southern College, he was a second round pick of Philadelphia and spent six seasons in the minors before joining the Phillies organization as a coach in 1979. He spent a total of 28 years with the Phillies including two seasons as third base coach for the major league club before coaching in the Cubs organization for three seasons. Twice he coached in the Florida State League managing Clearwater in 1992-93 and 1998-99. A two-time league coach of the year, Dancy has won three league titles. The 2014 season is his 41st year in pro baseball.
THE SERIES ... Lakeland opens the fourth month of the season with four games against Tampa, playing the first two at home July 1 and 2 at 6:30 pm and game three at Tampa July 3 at 7 pm. The series finale takes place on our nation’s birthday at 5 pm back in Lakeland. These two teams have already faced played each other 14 times so far in 2014 with the Flying Tigers coming away with nine wins, going 4-2 in Lakeland and 5-3 in Tampa. Chad Wright leads Lakeland with 16 hits in the series while Jeff McVaney has 14 hits and a team-high 14 RBI. Connor Harrell is also in double figures in runs batted in against the Yankees with 10. Lakeland has outscored Tampa 59-41 in the series.
THE FLYING TIGERS (3-8, 45-33; T-5th, 5.0 GB) ... Lakeland will be looking to break a four-game losing streak after dropping a three-game set at Daytona over the weekend. It was only the second time this season that the Flying Tigers have been swept in a series (Brevard County did so on April 14-16) and leaves the team with a 4-9 record since the All-Star Break. Sunday’s game at Daytona was a roller coaster ride that saw the team battle back from a 5-2 deficit to tie the game in the ninth and send the contest into extra innings. Austin Green hit a three-run homer in the top of the 11th, but the Cubs battled back with four runs in the bottom of the frame for the win. Josh Turley is second in the Florida State League with a 1.86 ERA to go with his perfect 7-0 record. Turley leads the league with a 0.97 WHIP and a .208 opponents average. Kevin Eichhorn (4-2) is seventh in the FSL with a 2.44 ERA while Edgar De La Rosa (4-6) is tenth with a 2.69 mark and tied for third with a .214 opponents average.
THE YANKEES (7-4, 40-41; 3rd, 1.0 GB) ... Tampa is coming off a sweep of first-half champion Dunedin. The Yankees capped the three-game streak with a 3-2 win in 10 innings Sunday as Yeicock Calderon singled home Aaron Judge with two outs in the bottom of the 10th. The victory was Tampa’s sixth in its last seven games. Jake Cave is ninth in the Florida State League with a .309 batting average and leads the league with an even 100 base hits. Cave is also fifth in the FSL with 129 total bases while Dante Bichette, Jr. is tied for third with 27 walks. Rafael De Paula is third in the FSL with 82 strikeouts. Jose Rosario joined the Yankees on June 7 and has hits in his last eight games (12-for-34, .353) and in 13 of his last 14 contests. Luis Severino was named Florida State League Pitcher of the Week after tossing 6.0 no-hit innings against Clearwater on June 25. Severino mowed down six Threshers and walked one in picking up the win in his second start for the Yankees. He lost to the Flying Tigers in his first outing despite recording eight strikeouts in 4.2 innings.
MIGHT SEE C.C. ... New York pitcher C.C. Sabathia is with the Tampa team on a Major League rehab assignment, working his way back from a right knee injury that has had him sidelined since May 10. Sabathia made his first start Saturday and is expected to make 2-3 more starts before returning to New York.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
7/01 - LHP Josh Turley (7-0, 1.86 ERA) ... Turley gave up a season-high eight hits in his last start on June 25 at Brevard County, but took the win, holding the Manatees to one run. He has allowed just four runs in 34.0 innings over his last five starts, posting a 4-0 record and a 1.06 ERA with 25 strikeouts. This will be Turley’s four appearance and second start against Tampa this season and he is 1-0 with a 3.14 ERA in those games with five runs allowed on 12 hits with 18 strikeouts and seven walks in 14.1 innings. Turley 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.
7/02 - RHP Jake Thompson (6-3, 2.75 ERA) ... Thompson surrendered four runs on a season-high nine hits in losing to Brevard County in his last start on June 26. He has allowed 12 runs (11 earned) on 20 hits in his last three starts and is 0-2 with a 8.25 ERA in that trio of games with 12 strikeouts and four walks. This will be Thompson’s fourth start against the Yankees in 2014 and he is 1-0 with a 1.26 ERA in the series, giving up just two runs, with 17 strikeouts, six walks and with nine hits. He is 4-0 with a 1.01 ERA in six home starts.
7/03 - RHP Edgar De La Rosa (4-6, 2.69 ERA) ... De La Rosa lost a pitcher’s duel with Brevard County’s Nathan Dorris on June 27, losing 1-0 as both hurlers went 7.0 innings. De La Rosa gave up one run on four hits with three strikeouts and two walks, while Dorris held Lakeland to four hits with eight strikeouts. De La Rosa has given up two runs on eight hits with 18 strikeouts and six walks in his last three starts working 7.0 in each outing. He is 0-1 with a 1.80 ERA in two previous starts against Tampa, giving up four runs (two earned) on eight hits with 12 strikeouts and one walk in 10.0 innings.
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 faced Tampa only once before, taking the loss on May 9 after allowing three runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings with four strikeouts and no walks.
JAMES WITH THE JACK ... James Robbins has found his power as of late, knocking four home runs in his last seven games. The surge has moved him into a tie for third in the Florida State League with 11 dingers.
WHICH TEAM? ... In their last four losses, Lakeland has had a little Jekyll and Hyde act at the plate. In the first two losses, the team scored two runs on nine hits and the pitching staff gave up five runs. In the last two defeats, the Flying Tigers collected 25 hits and scored 15 runs, but the mound men surrendered 17 runs on 24 hits.
TRE’ CONNOR ... Connor Harrell has had three hits in each of his last two games, including three doubles, and has now had three hits in a game a team-leading nine times this season. Harrell has bumped up his average each month. After getting off to slow start with a .209 mark in April, he hit .284 in May and .310 over the month of June.
ROLLING ALONG ... Jeff McVaney has hits in nine of his last ten games, including five games with two hits. He has scored six runs in those ten games and collected nine runs batted in. On the year, McVaney has had 21 multi-hit games, including four contests with three hits in game. He is also the only Lakeland player in double figures in games in which he has driven two or more runs. McVaney has had 11 games with two runs knocked in and a season-high four RBI on April 26 at Tampa.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland will play nine home games in the next 10 days as the Flying Tigers welcome Brevard County to Joker Marchant Stadium for a three-game series July 8-10 with all games scheduled for 6:30 pm.
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