Thursday, May 7, 2015

Mission Notes vs. Dunedin (May 7-9)

THE SERIES ... Lakeland travels to Dunedin for three games against the Blue Jays May 7-9 with all three games getting underway at 6:30 pm at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

LAST YEAR ... Dunedin won 10 of the 18 meetings with Lakeland last season while the two clubs split their 10 games at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

THE FLYING TIGERS (11-15, 6th, 5.5 GB) ... Welcome, Month of May. After a dismal 7-13 in the month of April, Lakeland is off to a 4-2 start in May. The turnaround has been in the pitching. In the first month of the season, Flying Tigers pitchers posted a 4.21 ERA. So far in month number two, the staff has recorded a 2.72 mark. Lakeland’s starters have allowed just two runs in the last 20.2 innings and zero runs in the last two games. Hitting has also improved as the squad has hit .252 so far in May after putting up a .229 mark in May. 

THE BLUE JAYS (12-15, 5th, 5.0 GB) ... Dunedin dropped its recent series to Tampa, two games to one. After winning the opening 3-2 in 14 innings, the Blue Jays lost 9-3 and 9-1 in the final two games. Dunedin is 3-6 its last nine games. Roemen Fields tops the Florida State League with 13 stolen bases—10 of which have come in the last eight games—while closer Wil Browning is tied for the league lead with seven saves.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/04 - LHP Kevin Ziomek (2-3, 4.88) ... Ziomek was tagged for seven earned runs in 5.1 innings in a lost in his last outing despite striking out seven batters. In his five previous starts, he had allowed a total of eight earned runs. Ziomek has recorded six or more strikeouts in each of his last four starts and is tied for fourth in the FSL with 32 strikeouts. His 10.41 strikeouts per nine innings is the fourth best ratio in the league. He is 1-2 with a 2.81 ERA at home and 1-1 with a 7.71 ERA on the road.
5/05 - RHP Jonathan Maciel (1-2, 7.40) ... Maciel had his best outing of his season on May 3, limiting Tampa to one run on two hits in 6.0 innings pitched. In his previous start on April 26, which he lost to Brevard County, he allowed season-highs with 10 hits and eight earned runs. Maciel’s one win of the season came on the road where he has a 4.11 ERA. At home, he is 0-2 with a 13.00 ERA.
5/06 - TBA  ... This is Ryan Longstreth’s spot in the rotation, but he was placed on the disabled list on Tuesday.

OFFENSE ANYONE? ... These two teams enter this series with two of the lowest team batting averages in the league. Lakeland ranks 10th with a .234 mark while Dunedin is 11th with a .226 mark. The Flying Tigers have scored the fewest runs of any FSL squad while the Blue Jays have crossed the plate the fourth fewest number of times.

PITCHING NOT STELLAR EITHER ... The Blue Jays have the highest ERA of any FSL team (4.46) while the Flying Tigers have the third highest (3.88).

TOPPING THE TORTUGAS ... Lakeland took it’s inaugural series with the FSL’s newest club as the Flying Tigers won the first two games versus Daytona, which entered the series with a North Division-best  16-8 record. Game one went to Lakeland by a 3-1 score highlighted by a two-run double by Curt Powell. In the second game, Tommy Collier (6.2 IP), Calvin Drummond (0.1) and Slade Smith (2.0) combined on a shutout as Lakeland posted its first nine-inning blanking since June 1, 2014. The Tortugas took the finale 3-2 scoring two runs in the top of the eighth for the win.

THAT NOT SO MELLOW FICOCIELLO ... Dominic Ficociello has been on a tear his last 16 games, going 22x61 for a .361 average with hits in 12 of those 16 games. He has had eight games with two or more hits in that stretch, including a pair of three-hit games.

V EQUALS VI ... Ben Verlander brings a six-game hit streak into this series going 9x23 (.391) during those six games with five runs batted in. He now has hits in 15 of his last 18 games (22x59, .373) with nine runs scored and 10 runs batted in. Verlander is third in the Florida State League with a .338 average.

THE POW FROM POWELL ... Curt Powell has gone 19x60 (.317) his last 16 games with 11 runs scored and six runs batted in along with five doubles and a triple. He now has hits in 17 of his 22 games played this season. Powell ranks eighth in the league with a .321 batting average. 

NO BREEZE HERE ... Javier Betancourt has whiffed just seven times this season which gives him one strikeout every 13.71 plate appearances, a mark that is third best in the Florida State League.

CALM COLLIER ... Tommy Collier tossed 6.2 shutout innings in Lakeland’s 7-0 win over Daytona on Tuesday and now ranks third in the league with a 1.52 ERA to go with his 3-1 record.

DOUBLES STREAK SNAPPED ... The Flying Tigers managed seven hits in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Daytona—all singles—snapping a streak of 11 consecutive games with a double. Lakeland had collected 18 two-baggers in those 11 games.

LOTS OF FANS ... In the last six games, Lakeland has played in front of 12,005 fans with each game drawing over 1,400 fans. Wednesday’s Education Day game was witnessed by 3,056 fans—the largest crowd of the season for Lakeland. The Flying Tigers have had six crowds in excess of 1,000 fans in their 15 home games this season.

LOCAL TALENT ... 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. He went on to play at the State College of Florida and the University of South Carolina.

ROSTER MOVE ... During Tuesday’s morning game, Lakeland placed LHP Ryan Longstreth on the disabled list and added RHP Nate Fury from Extended Spring Training.

THE SKIPPER (thru 5/06) ... 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 1,882-1,752 record. He is in his fifth season with Lakeland and has a 274-290 record with the club, including a FSL championship in 2012.

UP NEXT ... Lakeland will have Sunday, May 10 as an off day before heading to Jupiter for four games against the Hammerheads on May 11-14. The first three games are set for 6:35 pm starts with the finale on May 14 at 10:30 am.

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