THE SERIES ... Lakeland opens a seven-game road trip beginning with a four-game series at St. Lucie May 26-29. All four games will begin at 6:30 pm. Live streaming audio can be heard on the Mets’ website.
LAST SEASON ... The Mets won six of the eight meetings in 2014, taking three of four both at home and on the road. Two Mets’ wins were in extra innings (11 and 10 frames) with both decided by 5-4 scores.
THE FLYING TIGERS (21-22, 4th, 4.5 GB) ... Lakeland has split its last ten games and now stands one-half game behind Clearwater and Tampa which are tied for second place, 4.0 games behind Daytona. The Flying Tigers are 5-7 against South Division teams. Competing away from home, Lakeland has the best winning percentage on the road (.619) than any other FSL team. The Flying Tigers, who are tied for second in the FSL with 23 home runs, have moved up to eighth in the league with a .241 team batting average. The Flying Tigers staff earned run average of 3.29 ranks seventh in the FSL.
THE METS (21-23, T-4th, 9.0 GB) ... Saint Lucie is on a roll, having won three in a roll and six of its last eight games. The Mets are 6-6 against the North Division. Robert Gsellman is a perfect 6-0 and ranks fourth in the Florida State League with a 1.76 ERA while Akeel Morris is tied for third with seven saves. Jeff McNeil is fourth in the league with a .333 batting average and fifth with a .391 on-base percentage. Michael Conforto is all over the FSL rankings: 1st in total bases (84); tied for 1st in doubles (12); 2nd in extra-base hits (19); 3rd in RBI (27) and slugging percentage (.486); and 4th in home runs (7). He brings an eight-game hit streak into this series, going 13x33 (.394) during that stretch. Matt Oberste also has had hits in each of his last eight games, going 10x31 for a .323 clip. Dominic Smith has gone 10x27 (.370) in his last seven games with hits in each. Maikis De La Cruz is 7x14 (.500) his last three games with three hits and three runs scored in Sunday’s contest. Amed Rosario has collected two hits in each of his last three games going 6x12 in those trio of contests.
TONIGHT’S PROBABLE STARTERS
5/26 – RHP Ryan Longstreth (2-3, 2.02 ERA) ... Longstreth, who is seventh in the FSL with a 2.02 ERA, tossed two-hit ball over 8.0 shutout innings in his last start on May 20 at Daytona with five strikeouts. However, he did not pick up the win as the Tortugas scored in the bottom of the 11th for a 1-0 win. Longstreth has now not allowed a run in 13.0 innings in his last two starts and just two earned runs in his last 28.0 innings over five outings for a 0.64 ERA since April 22. He is 1-0 with a perfect 0.00 ERA in two road starts.
5/27 – TBA (This was Tommy Collier’s spot in the rotation. He was promoted to AA Erie on Sunday).
5/28 – LHP Locke St. John (2-2, 3.50 ERA) ... St. John was tagged for three runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings in his last start on May 22 against Bradenton. He did not factor into the decision. The three runs allowed equalled his total in his four previous starts when he was 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA with 15 strikeouts. St. John in 1-1 with a 3.78 ERA in three previous road starts.
5/29 – LHP Kevin Ziomek (4-3, 4.36 ERA) ... Ziomek, who is second in the FSL with 53.2 innings, had his roughest outing of the season in his last outing on May 23 against Bradenton as the Marauders roughed him up for six runs on 10 hits in just 4.2 innings. He did strike out five in the game and now has five or more Ks in each of his last eight starts and recorded a season-high eight whiffs in four of those outings and ranks second in the FSL with 58 strikeouts.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland’s road trip continues with three games at Brevard County, May 30-June 1 before returning home on June 2 to face Tampa in the first of a two-game home series.
RIDING THE CYCLE ... Trailing 6-4 heading into the bottom of the 7th in Saturday’s game against Bradenton, Lakeland rallied for three runs by hitting for the cycle in the bottom half of the frame. Jiwan James led off with a single while Raph Rhymes followed with his third home run of the season. Javier Betancourt then tripled while, one out later, Ben Verlander doubled him home with the go-ahead run, completing the cycle. The last time the Flying Tigers hit for the cycle in an inning was in the second frame on Aug. 31, 2013 as Lakeland thumped Tampa 17-0 in game one of a home doubleheader—Devon Travis doubled in one run; Francisco Martinez singled in another run; Jason Krizan added another RBI-single; Corey Jones hit a 3-run homer; Chad Wright completed the cycle with a triple. Travis hit a 2-run homer in his second at bat in the inning.
WELCOME ADDITION ... Reliever Paul Voelker joined Lakeland from West Michigan on May 11. In his four appearances so far, he has allowed one run in 5.0 innings with seven strikeouts. Voelker picked up the win in game two of this series and got the save in game three last. He also recorded a win in first outing with the Flying Tigers.
DOMINATING DOMINIC ... Dominic Ficociello has hits in each of his last five games going 7x22 (.318) during that stretch and now has hits in 17 of his last 18 contests. Since May 5, he is 25x76 for a .329 clip. His .306 season average is 10th best in the Florida State League. He enters today’s game with 99 career RBI through 240 games.
JIWAN FOR ONE ... Jiwan James has gotten a base hit in 16 of his last 19 games and is 19x79 since May 1 for a .241 average.
FRANKLY FRANCISCO ... Francisco Martinez has hits in eight of his last 10 games and is 15x38 during that stretch for a .395 clip. His RBI single Friday night was his 250th run batted in over his eight minor league seasons and 671 games.
COLLIER EARNS PROMOTION ... RHP Tommy Collier was promoted to AA Erie on Sunday. Collier was 3-4 with a 2.09 ERA in eight starts for the Flying Tigers. RHP Will Clinard joins the Flying Tigers from the Whitecaps’ disabled list where he spent all of last season with right arm/elbow biceps infringement.
THE SKIPPER (thru 5/24) ... Flying Tigers manager Dave Huppert ranks 17th among minor league manager in terms of wins and has a 1,892-1,759 record entering tonight’s game. Huppert now trails 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 the Flying Tigers and has a 284-297 record, including a FSL championship in 2012.
MACHADO MAKES THE SHOW ... Former Flying Tiger Dixon Machado got the call from the big club as a roster spot opened when lefty Kyle Lobstein was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Machado, who played for Lakeland in 2013 and 2014, was batting .274 in 40 games at Triple-A Toledo. He joins fellow former Flying Tigers, Nick Castellanos (2012 in Lakeland), Tyler Collins (2012), Bryan Holaday (2010), James McCann (2012), Angel Nesbitt (2014), and Hernan Perez (2019, 2012), on the Detroit roster.
SPEED GAMES ... As of May 25, Florida State League games average 2 hours, 40 minutes in length, a time which is the third quickest time among all minor leagues this season.
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