THE SERIES ... Lakeland opens a three-game homestand against the new kids on the block as the league’s newest affiliate, the Daytona Tortugas make their first-ever visit to Joker Marchant Stadium. Daytona, now an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, was a farm club of the Chicago Cubs from 1993-2014. Chicago moved its Advanced A club to Myrtle Beach in the Carolina League. Game one of this series is Monday, May 4 at 6:30 pm with games two and three on May 5 & 6 at 10:30 a.m. for Education Days. The rare back-to-back morning games came about as last week’s Education Day on Tuesday was postponed.
LAST YEAR ... The Daytona Cubs won 12 of the 18 meetings with Lakeland last season, including the last five and 11 of the last 12 games versus the Flying Tigers. Lakeland had won five of the first six contests.
THE FLYING TIGERS (9-14, 6th, 6.5 GB) ... Lakeland split its four-game set with Tampa, winning two of the final three games at George Steinbrenner Field. The Flying Tigers are now 7-4 on the road, but just 2-10 at home. Away from Joker Marchant Stadium, Lakeland is batting .252 with nine homers while batting just .216 at home with six home runs. Kevin Ziomek is third in the league with 32 strikeouts. The Flying Tigers are hitting .234 which is 10th lowest in the league while the staff ERA of 4.20 is second highest in the FSL.
THE TORTUGAS (16-8, 1st, 3.0 game lead) ... Daytona beat Brevard County 2-1 in 10 innings yesterday as Sebastian Elizalde scored in the bottom of the tenth on a wild pitch. Elizalde brings a league-best 11-game hit streak into this series and has gone 15x46 (.326) during that stretch. The Tortugas have won two in a row and five of their last six games. Barrett Astin is second in the Florida State League with a 0.89 ERA while closer Zack Weiss is second with five saves. Ervin Phillip leads the FSL with seven home runs, 24 runs scored, 56 total bases, and a .615 slugging percentage. He also ranks eighth with a .321 average and tied for second with 29 hits. Daytona is 10-2 at home, but just 6-6 on the road. The club has allowed the third fewest runs of any club in the FSL while allowing a league-high 23 home runs. The Tortugas are sixth with a .248 team batting average and are fourth with a 2.94 staff earned run average.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/04 - LHP Ryan Longstreth (1-2, 3.20) ... In his last start on April 27, Longstreth worked 6.0 innings for the second game in a row. He did not factor into the decision despite holding the Manatees to two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out five. In his last two games, Longstreth is 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA, giving up one unearned run in 12.0 innings with six hits allowed, eight strikeouts and five walks.
5/05 - RHP Tommy Collier (2-1, 1.96) ... Collier will be looking to rebound from a bad start on April 30. Heading into that game, he had allowed just two unearned runs and walked just one batter. In the first, Collier surrendered a three-run homer and in the second, walked three batters and finished with five walks in his 5.0 innings of work. This is his fifth start of the season. In odd numbered starts, he is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA while in even numbered starts, he is 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA. Collier is eighth in the FSL with a 1.96 ERA.
5/06 - LHP Locke St. John (1-2, 5.48) ... St. Locke had his best outing of the season in his last start on May 1, holding Clearwater to two runs on five hits and six strikeouts (three walks) in 5.0 innings. It was his first win of the season and first in his last six starts dating back to Aug. 3, 2014. St. John has now struck out 10 in his 9.2 innings over his last two starts, but has also walked six in that time and now ranks third in the FSL with 12 walks allowed.
UNDER THE SHELL ... Righthander Nick Howard (19th overall) and shortstop Alex Blandino (29th overall) were both taken in the first round by the Reds in 2014. Centerfielder Phillip Ervin was Cincinnati’s number one pick (27th overall) in 2013. Fellow righty Jimmy Moran is from Davenport, Fla. and went to the University of South Florida while catcher Joe Hudson went to Tampa Jesuit High and then on to the University of Notre Dame. Catcher Chad Wallach is the son of former Major Leaguer Tim Wallach.
VEXING VERLANDER ... On April 13, Ben Verlander had a total of a pair of singles in his first four games for a .167 mark. In the last 13 games, the Flying Tigers outfielder is 19x47 (.404) with seven runs score, three doubles, two homers, and nine runs batted in. Verlander now tops the team with a .356 average, a mark that ranks second in the Florida State League. He is also fifth in the circuit with a .424 on-base percentage and a .508 slugging percentage.
DOMINATING DOMINIC ... Way back on April 12, Dominic Ficociello had collected two hits in his first 13 at bats. Since then, he has gone 18x51 for a .353 clip in his last 13 games. Ficociello has had two or more hits in six games and twice had three base knocks in a game. He leads the Flying Tigers with eight multi-hit games.
BATTLIN’ BETANCOURT ... Javier Betancourt has hits in five of his last six games, going 8x30 (.267) during that stretch.
SCORES IN INNINGS ... The Flying Tigers have been outscored 11-1 in the sixth inning this season and 10-1 in the ninth. Overall, Lakeland has outscored its opponents in just one frame this season, holding a 10-6 advantage in the eighth inning.
WHERE’S THE OFFENSE? ... Lakeland has scored more than four runs in a game just five times this season with a season-high of seven in a 7-5 win over Clearwater on April 19. Twelve times, the team has been held to three runs or less with opponents posting shutouts in three games this season.
ROSTER MOVES ... Lots of activity over the weekend on the roster front as three players depart and three players arrive. On May 1, RHP Zac Reininger and LHP Joe Rogers earned promotions to AA Erie. Reininger had not allowed a run in 11.0 innings over five outings while Rogers had been tagged for just one unearned run in 10.0 innings in six trips to the mound. Taking those departed roster spots are RHP Slade Smith who was added from AA Erie and RHP Scott Sitz who was added from Extended Spring Training where he had been since being sent there from Lakeland on April 26. The next day, RHP Brennan Smith (no relation to Slade) was also added from AA Erie with RHP Matt Davenport being sent to EST.
THE SKIPPER (thru 5/03) ... Manager Dave Huppert, a member of the 2012 FSL Hall of Fame Class, is back for a 28th season as a minor league manager. He is the winningest active manager in the minors based on number of wins and ranks 18th overall with a 1,880-1,751 record. He is in his fifth season with Lakeland and has a 272-289 record with the club, including a FSL championship in 2012.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland will next hit the road for seven away games in eight days, first playing May 7-9 at Dunedin and then May 11-14 at Jupiter. The Flying Tigers next home game is May 15.
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