THE SERIES ... Lakeland returns home to Joker Marchant Stadium May 15-17 for a three-game set against Dunedin. Friday’s game is at 6:30 pm with Saturday’s game at 6 pm. Sunday’s finale is scheduled for a 1 pm first pitch.
EARLIER THIS SEASON ... The Flying Tigers took the bookend games of the series played May 7-9 in Dunedin, winning game one 6-1 and the finale 15-1 as Raph Rhymes hit two homers. The Blue Jays won the middle game, 5-2.
THE FLYING TIGERS (16-17, 3rd, 4.5 GB) ... After being shutout 4-0 in the series opener at Jupiter, the Flying Tigers roared back to take the last three games vs. the Hammerheads to produce Lakeland’s first three-game win streak since Aug. 1-3, 2014. The Flying Tigers have now won eight of the last 11 games to take sole possession of third place in the North Division of the FSL, just 4.5 games off the pace. The starting pitching was the key in the three wins at Jupiter as Locke St. John, Kevin Ziomek and Jonathan Maciel combined to allow just one run in 19.0 innings.
THE BLUE JAYS (15-19, T-5th, 8.0 GB) ... Dickie Joe Thon and Matt Dean each had three hits to spirit a 14-hit attack as Dunedin doubled up at Fort Myers, posting a 6-3 victory on Thursday. The win is only the third in the last nine games for Dunedin. Dean is fifth in the FSL with five homers while Roemon Fields tops the league with 14 stolen bases. L.B. Dantzler brings a 10-game hit streak into this series—tied for the longest active streak in the FSL—and has had two hits in each of his last five games. During the streak, Dantzler is 16x39 for a .410 clip. He was hitting .067 before catching fire. Wil Downing has recorded a save in nine of the Blue Jays’ 15 wins this season to tie for the league lead.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/15 - RHP Ryan Longstreth (1-2, 3.18) ... Longstreth makes his first start since being placed on the Disabled List on May 5. In his last start on May 4, he left the game after pitching three innings. He gave up four hits for one run and struck out three with zero walks. Longstreth had gone 1-0 with a 1.20 ERA in his last three starts prior to going on the DL.
5/16 - RHP Tommy Collier (3-2, 1.82) ... Collier, who ranks sixth in the FSL with a 1.82 ERA, took the loss in his last start on May 11, allowing a pair of runs on four hits in 5.0 innings of work at Jupiter. He struck out four and walked two for a second straight outing. Collier has had an up and down thing this season, posting a 3-0 record and a 0.00 ERA in his 1st, 3rd, and 5th starts, and a 0-2 mark with 3.70 ERA in his 2nd, 4th, and 6th outings. This will be start number seven.
5/17 - LHP Locke St. John (3-3, 4.28) ... St. John has not gotten a decision in his last two starts despite allowing just one earned run in 10.0 innings pitched. On May 12, he worked 5.0 innings for a third consecutive start, and allowed two runs—one earned—on five hits at Jupiter. He failed to record a strikeout after registering 11 in his two previous starts. St. John has a 1.80 ERA in his last three outings after posting a 6.06 mark in his first three starts of the season.
HUPPERT MOVES INTO 17th PLACE (thru 5/14) ... With Lakeland’s three wins at Jupiter, Flying Tigers manager Dave Huppert has moved into a tie with Bruno Betzel (1927-56) for 17th place for wins by a minor league manager. Huppert, who has the most wins among active minor league managers, has a 1,887-1,754 record entering this series and now sets his sights on Cal Ermer who is in 16th place with a 1,906-1,728 record compiled from 1947-1984. Huppert is a 2012 FSL Hall of Fame honoree and is back for a 28th season as a minor league manager. He is in his fifth season with Lakeland and has a 279-292 record, including a FSL championship in 2012.
POLK POWER ... Dunedin pitcher Justin Shafer is a 2012 graduate of Lake Wales High School in Polk County. He was 16-3 over his final two seasons and batted .472 as a junior and a whopping .535 as a senior. He also quarterbacked the Highlander football team to the state semifinals in 2009. First baseman L.B. Dantzler is a 2010 graduate of Winter Haven High School.
CRAZY EIGHTS ... Pitcher Kevin Ziomek, who ranks third in the FSL with 45 strikeouts, tossed three-hit ball over 8.0 shutout innings at Jupiter on Wednesday. It is the longest outing of any Lakeland pitcher since Josh Turley also worked 8.0 innings against Tampa on July 4, 2014. The righthander struck out eight batters in the contest—the third time this season he has mowed down eight batters in a start. Ironically, Turley also struck out eight in his Independence Day outing. Ziomek has tossed 41.2 innings so far, second most in the FSL.
NUMBER NINE ... Dominic Ficociello has hits in each of his last nine games for a .342 mark, going 13x38 with six RBI since May 5. Javier Betancourt also brings a nine-game hit streak into this series, having gone 12x39 (.308) with four runs scored and seven runs batted in since May 5. The pair join Curt Powell, who had an earlier nine-game streak, for the longest hit streaks by a Flying Tiger this season.
SPEAKING OF POWELL ... Curt Powell has had hits in 20 of his last 23 games, posting a .324 average (27x84) since April 17. During that stretch, Powell has scored 17 times, while plating 10 runs. He has had six doubles and a pair of triples while drawing 11 walks. Powell’s .324 batting average ranks eighth in the Florida State League while his .413 on-base percentage is third best.
POWER & SPEED ... Bobby Borchering hit a solo home run on Thursday and he also stole a base in that game. He joins Francisco Martinez as Flying Tigers who have homered and swiped a base in a game this season.
DO WE HAVE TO GO HOME? ... With the 3-1 series at Jupiter, Lakeland is now five games over .500 on the road with a 11-6 record. At home, it’s turned around as the Flying Tigers are six games under .500 at 5-11 in games at Joker Marchant Stadium.
ROSTER MOVES ... Lakeland made one move as the Jupiter series opened on May 11, promoting RHP Confesor Lara to AA Erie and adding RHP Paul Voelker from Class A West Michigan. Voelker wasted no time and picked up the win in his FSL relief debut on May 12. This morning, LHP Ryan Longstreth was activated off the DL and will start tonight’s game while RHP Scott Sitz was sent back to Extended Spring Training.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland heads back on the road once again to play at Daytona May 18-20 before returning to Joker Marchant Stadium for four games against Bradenton May 21-24.
FSL FUN FACTS ... Charlotte’s Buddy Borden threw a seven-inning no-hitter Wednesday as the Stone Crabs beat Clearwater, 5-0, at Bright House Field. That wasn’t the only note-worthy item from that game as the Stone Crabs also turned a triple play in the contest. The series got off to a strange start as the Monday opener was postponed due to a team-wide Threshers’ illness. According to the WTSP-Channel 10 website, several Clearwater players suffered from food poisoning that they may have contracted from something they ate in Daytona Beach, where the team had a three-game series.
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