THE SERIES ... Lakeland begins a road trip that will not have local fans seeing them at home until June 22. The odyssey begins with a three-game set at Dunedin, June 12-14, with games one and two starting at 6:30 and the Sunday finale at 1 pm. All games can be heard on the Blue Jays’ website.
EARLIER THIS SEASON ... Lakeland has won both season series so far, winning the opening and closing games in each while Dunedin has won both middle games. The Flying Tigers have outscored the Blue Jays 36-13 in the series, including a 15-1 victory on May 9 at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. Francisco Martinez is 9x19 (.474) with four RBI vs. Dunedin while Dominic Ficociello is 9x26 (.346) with six runs batted in. Raph Rhymes hit two homers in the May 9 Lakeland win.
THE FLYING TIGERS (27-32, 4th, 7.5 GB) ... Lakeland has now lost five straight after being swept in four games by Fort Myers. It was the second four-game sweep by a South Division club over the Flying Tigers in 2015 as Palm Beach accomplished the feat earlier this season. Last night, the Flying Tigers dropped a doubleheader to the Miracle, losing game one, 2-1 in 13 innings, and the nightcap, 7-3. For this series, Lakeland returns to its own North Division where it has a 20-19 record. Away from Joker Marchant Stadium, the Flying Tigers have the best road record in the league at 16-12.
THE BLUE JAYS (26-34, 6th, 9.0 GB) ... Dunedin split its four-game home series with South Division leading Charlotte, taking games one and four, while dropping the middle contests. The Blue Jays have won three of their last five outings and are in last place in the division, 9.0 games out of the running. Roemon Fields has swiped 18 bases which is fifth most in the league while closer Wil Browning is third in the FSL with 11 saves. Dunedin has the highest staff ERA in the league (4.22) and second lowest team batting average (.237)
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS (based on previous rotations)
FRI, 6/12 – Matt Crouse (2-1, 1.14 ERA) ... Crouse is making his fourth start since joining the starting rotation following the promotion of Tommy Collier to Double-A Erie. In his last start on June 6 against Daytona, he did not factor into the decision despite holding the Tortugas to one run on five hits over a season-high 6.0 innings with three strikeouts and a walk. As a starter, Crouse is 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA with 10 punchouts and one walk in 16.0 innings. He has two relief appearances against Dunedin, picking up a save in the May 7 game, and has not allowed a run on four hits in 5.0 innings.
SAT, 6/13 – Locke St. John (2-4, 3.57 ERA) ... St. John has lost his last two starts and is looking for his first win since May 17. In his last outing on June 8, he lost to Fort Myers after allowing four runs on eight hits in 5.0 innings. In seven starts since May 6, St. John is 1-2 with a 2.45 ERA. He is 1-1 with a 3.05 ERA in four previous road starts. St. John was 0-2 in April, 2-0 in May and is 0-2 so far in June. He won his only previous start vs. the Blue Jays, tossing four-hit ball over 6.0 frames and allowing a pair of unearned runs on May 17.
SUN, 6/14 – Kevin Ziomek (4-5, 4.74 ERA) ... Ziomek is looking for his first victory since posting back-to-back wins on May 7 and 13. He was touched for four runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings in his last outing on June 10 against Fort Myers with a season-low two strikeouts. In his last five starts, Ziomek is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA having allowed 20 runs. He is 3-2 with a 5.05 in six previous road starts. Ziomek beat Dunedin on May 7 after holding the Blue Jays to one run on four hits in 6.0 innings with five strikeouts and three walks.
FSL ALL-STAR GAME ... Four Flying Tigers have been named to the Florida State League All-Star Game. Starting pitchers Ryan Longsrteth (currently on the 7-day disabled list) and Kevin Ziomek, along with first baseman Dominic Ficociello, and rightfielder Ben Verlander, will head to St. Lucie on June 20 for the 54th FSL All-Star Game.
Oh, SNAP! ... Jiwan James entered game one of last night’s doubleheader as a pinch-hitter in the 10th inning. He flied out for Ismael Salgado in that at bat and struck out to end the 12th inning. The 0x2 outing snapped James’ streak of reaching base safely at 30 consecutive games. It was the longest streak in the FSL this season. Dominic Ficociello was held hitless in five at bats in game one, ending a streak of five straight games in which he had two hits in each game.
NOT TAKING A WHIFF ... Javier Betancourt is still the second toughest batter to strike out in the FSL with one whiff per 16.07 total plate appearances. He has struck out just three times in his last 18 games and only nine times in his last 41 games dating back to April 27. Betancourt hit .284 in May, but is just batting .231 in June. He leads all FSL second baseman with a .986 fielding percentage and has four errors in 287 total chances.
FSL HONOR ... Tyler Hanover was named the Florida State League Player of the Week for the week ending June 6, going 7x18 (.389) for the week with three doubles, a homer and three runs batted in.
DROP DOWN ... With a combined 1x7 in last night’s double-dip, Dominic Ficociello saw his batting average fall to .310 on the year, dropping him from third in the Florida State League to sixth.
BULLPEN K SQUAD ... Calvin Drummond, Paul Voelker and Montreal Robertson combined to strike out 12 batters in 10.0 innings of relief work in the first game of last night’s doubleheader. Voelker whiffed six Miracle hitters in his 3.0 innings of work while Drummond and Robertson each punched out three batters. Brennan Smith, making just his second start, also struck out three batters in his 3.0 innings as Lakeland tied a team season-high with 15 Ks.
THE RUN DOWN FEELING ... After scoring a combined 18 runs in two games vs. division-leading Daytona on June 4-5, Lakeland has managed just nine runs in the last five games and was outscored 18-7 in the Fort Myers series. The Flying Tigers collected 25 hits in those two Tortugas games on June 4-5, but have averaged just over seven hits in the last five contests.
THE SKIPPER (thru 6/11) ... Flying Tigers manager Dave Huppert ranks 17th among minor league manager in terms of wins and has a 1,898-1,769 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 290-307 record, including a FSL championship in 2012.
ROSTER MOVES ... In a rare occurrence last night, catcher Grayson Greiner was placed on the disabled list in between games of the Fort Myers doubleheader after starting game one. In the third inning of the game, Miracle batter Marcus Knecht was hit with a pitch that ricocheted off him and struck Grayson in the head or neck area. Grayson finished the inning but was replaced defensively by Tim Remes to start the fourth. Grayson was placed on the DL after the game with Will Allen getting called up from the Gulf Coast League Tigers roster to start game two of the twinbill. In another transaction, Raph Rhymes was activated from the DL Tuesday with LHP Ryan Longstreth heading back to the DL where he had been from May 5-15. In addition, LHP Trent Szkutnik was added from West Michigan while IF Brett Pirtle was sent back to Extended Spring Training.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland heads to South Division leading Charlotte for a four-game series June 15-18 before taking off for the All-Star break.
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