THE SERIES ... This three-game road trip begins with a 7:05 pm game Saturday and continues Sunday at 5:35 pm. The finale is Monday at 7:05 pm. All three games will be contested at Radiology Associates Field at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The Flying Tigers won five of the first six games in the series, but the Cubs have taken the last six contests to hold a 7-5 advantage in the season series. Connor Harrell is 16x47 (.340) in the 12 games and has scored a dozen runs while driving in six for Lakeland. Jeff McVaney is 14x43 with three triples while Lance Durham and Curt Powell each had 13 hits.
THE FLYING TIGERS (15-32, 6th, 13.0 GB; 57-57 overall) ... After taking the first three games of the Fort Myers series, Lakeland has lost four of the last five games, including the last two straight. Daytona won its recent series with Lakeland with wins in three of the four games. The Flying Tigers are 5-16 on the road this half and 5-18 against North Division teams. James Robbins is tied for second in the league with 14 home runs while Jeff McVaney is tied for third with 64 runs batted in. McVaney is also tied for fourth with 40 extra-base hits and is fourth with 182 total bases.
THE CUBS (27-18, 4th, 4.0 game lead; 53-60 overall) ... Daytona split its recent four-game series at Clearwater and is 2-6 since July 30. In their last win, the Cubs trashed the Threshers 18-2 on Aug. 7 with eight of the nine players scoring two or more times. The Cubs are 13-10 at home this half and 14-9 against teams from the North Division. Daytona’s staff ERA of 4.39 is second highest in the FSL. Billy McKinney has hits in each of his last six games, going 10x24 (.417) in that stretch. Jacob Hannemann is 5x10 his last two games while Rock Shoulders has four hits, four runs scored, a double, and a homer the last two games and has seven walks his last three games.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS:
8/09 - RHP Tommy Collier (2-2, 7.00 ERA) ... Tommy Collier lasted just 3.0 innings in his last start on August 4, giving up six runs on seven hits to Fort Myers. In his prior start, he had allowed just one unearned run on four hits in 6.0 innings at Palm Beach. Collier, who is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two road starts, has not faced Daytona this season.
8/10 - RHP Yorfrank Lopez (5-10, 4.74 ERA) ... Lopez has dropped three straight and is 3-7 his last ten outings. His last win was on July 20 versus Jupiter. In his last start on August 5, he gave up three runs on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 5.0 innings against Dunedin. He is 1-4 with a 4.33 ERA in 10 previous road starts and is 4-0 with a 1.03 in four day starts while going 1-10 with a 5.85 ERA in 18 nighttime outings. Lopez is 0-2 with a 6.63 ERA versus the Cubs, allowing 17 runs-—14 earned-—on 23 hits over 19.0 innings with 11 strikeouts and eight walks.
8/11 - RHP Edgar De La Rosa (7-8, 2.68 ERA) ... De La Rosa, who is seventh in the FSL with a 2.68 ERA, has won his last two decisions, including a victory on August 6 against Dunedin. In that game, he held the Blue Jays to two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 6.0 innings. He is 3-4 with a 2.14 ERA in 17 previous road starts. De La Rosa, who ranks third in the FSL with a .216 opponents average, is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA against Daytona, giving up six runs—five earned—on seven hits in 16.2 innings with 12 strikeouts and six walks.
SWEET 16? ... Harold Castro brings a 15-game hit streak into this series going 22x59 with a .373 average during the stretch which began on July 23. The 15-game streak in the longest for any Flying Tiger this season and is the longest for any Lakeland player since Nick Castellanos, now the starting third baseman for Detroit, put together an 18-game streak from April 29 to May 17, 2012. Castro is hitting .358 against righthanded pitcher and just .200 against lefties.
EIGHT IS GREAT ... Connor Harrell carries an eight-game hit streak into tonight’s game. He is 11x29 for a .379 average with four runs scored and five runs batted in. Harrell has one double, one triple and two home runs during the stretch of games.
SEVEN ON 7-11 ... Jeff McVaney extended his hit streak to seven games last night, a night which is sponsored by the 7-11 convenience store. He is 9x26 for a .346 clip and has hit three homers in the last five games. With two homers in the Dunedin series, McVaney now has 11 on the season, joining James Robbins (14), Connor Harrell (12) and Austin Green (10) as Flying Tigers have for players with 10 or more homers for the first time since 2009 (Chris Carlson-13, Jeremy Laster-12, Audy Ciriaco-11, Michael Bertram-10).
FIVE AIN’T BAD ... Curt Powell has hits in each of his last five games, going 8x22 for a .364 average with a double and two triples. He is hitting .283 against righthanders, but .217 against lefties.
THREE’S GOOD TOO ... Jared Reaves is 6x12 his last three games with two hits in each.
FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME ... Lance Durham made a rare start at first base for the Flying Tiger in last night’s game. He handled seven chances with out an error. It was his first start at the first sack this season for Lakeland. Durham had played 45 games at first baseman for West Michigan last season.
SNAPPED ... Tyler Hanover was held hitless in Friday’s game, snapping a six-game hit streak in which he was 10x18 for a .556 mark. During that seven-game stretch, he had four games with two hits in each.
5-FOR-5 ... Scott Sitz (pronounced SITES) has stepped into the role of the team’s closer and has responded with five saves in five save opportunities. In his six appearances this season, he has been scored upon in just one game (August 1).
Z-MAN ... Brennan Smith has been putting up zeroes in his last six outings, having not been scored upon in 6.2 innings over those half dozen games.
NOT MUCH “O” ... These two teams rank 10th and 11th in the Florida State League in terms of team batting average. The Cubs come in with a .253 average to hold down the #10 spot while the Flying Tigers are 11th with a .251 mark. Lakeland holds a slim edge in homers, out-dinging Daytona 63-62 while the Cubs enjoy a 27-26 margin in triples.
LEADING “D’s” ... The Flying Tigers remain atop the Florida State League with a .979 fielding percentage. The Cubs are one of four teams tied for second with a .977 mark. For Lakeland, Connor Harrell tops all league outfielders with a .996 fielding percentage while Daytona’s Dan Vogelbach leads FSL first baseman with a .994 fielding percentage.
CUBS MAN ... Flying Tigers acting manager Bill Dancy was in the Cubs organization for three seasons, earning South League Manager of the Year honors after taking AA Tennessee to the 2010 league championship series and then managing 2011 at AAA Iowa before serving as Chicago’s Minor League Infield Coordinator in 2012.
UP NEXT ... After taking Tuesday off, Lakeland returns home for one day, taking on the Tampa Yankees in a doubleheader at 5 pm Wednesday. The twin bill was necessitated when a game on July 2 was rained out.
LEFT SIDE FOR THE BIG CLUB ... Two former Flying Tigers are manning the left side of the infield for Detroit in Nick Castellanos at third and Eugenio Suarez at shortstop. Castellanos is hitting .255 for Detroit and has eight homers and 43 rubs batted in 100 games, 99 of which have come at the hot corner. He has committed just nine errors at third. Suarez has started 48 games for Tigers with six errors and a .253 batting average with four round-trippers.
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