Flying Tigers sweep doubleheader from Blue Jays

LAKELAND, FL – In a rain-prolonged evening in Lakeland, Dunedin dropped both games of a doubleheader to the Flying Tigers - 8-1 in game one and 3-2 in eight innings in game two – on Saturday night at Joker Marchant Stadium.

With the two wins, Lakeland clinches a series victory over the Blue Jays. Dunedin has lost four straight after winning the series opener, falling to 36-37 on the season and 2-5 in the second half.

Game one was pushed back two hours due to rain. The delay didn’t have much of an effect on Victor Arias, as the Blue Jays leadoff man cranked the second pitch of the game to right field for a leadoff home run.

The 1-0 lead was short-lived, as Lakeland picked up their own first-inning home run: a two-run blast from Brett Callahan that made it 2-1.

The deficit swelled to 4-1 in the fourth, as the Flying Tigers scored on RBIs from Max Clark and Callahan. The damage chased Dunedin starter Grant Rogers after four frames.

Following a scoreless fifth from Bo Bonds, Lakeland busted the game open with four runs in the sixth to push their lead to 8-1.

Game two started at 9:00pm, but both starting pitchers appeared to be heading towards an early bedtime anyways, as both Fernando Perez and Lakeland starter Zack Lee retired the first nine batters they faced.

The Flying Tigers struck first with a Jose De La Cruz RBI single in the fourth, but Perez stranded runners on the corners to end the inning.

Perez’s backstop backed him up in the top of the fifth, as Nic Deschamps lined an opposite-field, solo homer to tie the game at one.

In the sixth, the Blue Jays snagged the lead, as Tucker Toman punched a two-out, go-ahead RBI single through the right side of the infield to give Dunedin a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Irv Carter retired the first two batters, but allowed a double down the right field line to Callahan. The throw back to the infield from Yeuni Munoz was offline, allowing Callahan to reach third.

The throwing error proved to be costly, as De La Cruz rapped an infield single that allowed Callahan to score the tying run. Carter walked the next two batters, but delivered to leave the bases loaded, keeping the game tied at two.

After a scoreless seventh on both sides of the scorebook, Manuel Beltre opened the top of the eighth with a single, moving placed runner Robert Robertis to third. The next batter, Arias, popped out to shallow left for the first out of the inning. However, after the throw back to the infield, Beltre was thrown out attempting to take second base. Alexis Hernandez struck out to strand Robertis on third to end the inning.

In the bottom of the inning, Kai Peterson surrendered a one-out sacrifice fly to Clayton Campbell that ended the game.

The series concludes tomorrow at noon. Fans can listen to the hometown call for free online at https://www.milb.com/dunedin/fans/radio.