Starting lineups for Friday’s Eastern League game between the Akron Aeros and the Erie SeaWolves at Jerry Uht Park:
Akron Aeros (28-16): 1. Tim Fedroff CF, 2. Davis Stoneburner SS, 3. Adam Abraham DH, 4. Chun Chen 1B, 5. Ben Copeland LF, 6. Thomas Neal RF, 7. Kyle Bellows 3B, 8. Matt Lawson 2B, 4. Michel Hernandez C.
Starting pitcher: T.J. McFarland LH (8-1, 1.79 ERA).
Erie SeaWolves (22-23): 1. Jamie Johnson CF, 2. Brandon Douglas 2B, 3. Niuman Romero SS, 4. Jordan Lennerton, 5. Rawley Bishop DH, 6. John Murrian C, 7. Wade Gaynor LF, 8. Bryan Pounds 3B, 9. Michael Rockett RF.
Starting pitcher: Ramon Garcia LH (2-3, 5.52 ERA).
– Mike Copper
Akron returns to Uht Park nine days after it completed a three-game series there to end Erie’s previous homestand. The SeaWolves won two of those three games against the league’s Western Division leaders, who began Friday four games up on second-place Harrisburg and 6½ ahead of Erie.
There’s a reason the Aeros go into Memorial Day weekend with the league’s best record. Actually, there are two.
McFarland is one of them. The left-hander, deemed the Cleveland Indians’ No. 21 prospect according to Baseball America, seeks to become the league’s first nine-game winner Friday.
McFarland’s 1.79 ERA is the league’s third lowest for pitchers who qualify.
On offense, Erie also is familiar with Jared Goedert from its last homestand. The outfielder went 7-for-8 over the final two games of the teams’ series.
Goedert’s batting average (.395), on-base percentage (.476) and slugging percentage (.613) are league bests for those categories.
Erie best counter on offense is Jordan Lennerton. The first baseman’s 10 home runs are tied with Portland’s Reynaldo Rodriguez for second in the league behind Trenton’s Cody Johnson (12).
Lennerton and Johnson go into Friday tied for second in RBIs (30). They trail Reading slugger Darin Ruf (33).
Friday marks Erie’s switch to 7:05 p.m. starts for most Monday-through Saturday home games the rest of this season. The SeaWolves close their eight-game homestand with 1:35 first pitches Sunday and Monday.
Probable starters for the series are: Akron LH T.J. McFarland (8-1, 1.79 ERA) vs. Erie LH Ramon Garcia (2-3, 5.52 ERA) on Friday; RH Brett Brach (1-1, 4.26) vs. RH Zack Segovia (4-4, 5.36) on Saturday; RH Paolo Espino (0-1, 2.45) vs. LH Jared Wesson (4-2, 5.56) on Sunday; and LH T.J. House (3-1, 3.30) vs. RH James Avery (5-3, 3.12) on Monday.
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The SeaWolves went into Friday with a full 25-man roster for the first time since this week started.
Reliever Patrick Cooper was called up from Single-A Lakeland to take the roster spot of Ryan Robowski, whom the Detroit Tigers summoned to Triple-A Toledo Sunday. It’s already Cooper’s third assignment to Erie this season, with his previous stints in mid-April and early May.
Cooper struggled over his previous four appearances for the 2012 SeaWolves. The right-hander has a 10.80 ERA in 8 1/3 innings of action.
