TWINS DOMINATE ROYALS WITH FIVE HOMERS AND TAKE SERIES WITH 16-6 WIN

Elizabethton, Tennessee - Top to bottom, the Elizabethton Twin offense was clicking Friday night, as the team used 20 hits to score 16 runs and power past the Burlington Royals and win the three-game series, 16-6.
Eight Twins recorded hits and eight Twins scored runs as well in a total team effort, with Elizabethton scoring in seven of the eight innings the team took at-bats in. 
Spencer Steer went 5-5 and scored three runs, while Albee Weiss and Janigson Villalobos each connected for two home runs and Seth Gray hit a grand slam.
In addition to Steer, Weiss and Villalobos, Gray had a multi-hit game with three knocks and Max Smith had two hits in six trips to the plate.
The scoring started in the first inning when Weiss connected for a three-run home run. In the second, Gray hit his grand slam in the second and Villalobos crushed his first two home runs of the season in the third and fourth innings respectively.
Weiss also added a sac fly in the second and hit his second home run of the day to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Now, the first baseman leads the Appalachian League in home runs with eight and is tied for the lead in runs batted in with 21.
Over the three games against Burlington, he went 6-10 with four home runs and 11 runs batted in.
Matt Wallner also drove in a run with a groundout in the fifth and Smith and Weiss each singled in runs in the eighth. For Weiss, it was his sixth run batted in of the night.
The first eight innings of Twins pitching was phenomenal, with starter Andriu Marin allowing just two runs on one hit and reliever Osiris German striking out six in three scoreless inning. While Frandy Torres pitched a scoreless eighth and struggled in the ninth, allowing the Royals to score four runs, Denny Bentley came in to finish off Burlington and record the final three outs of the game.
With this series win against the Royals, the Twins improve their record to 13-10, a ½ game behind the Johnson City Cardinals for first place.
Elizabethton and Johnson City begin a four-game series Saturday night, with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch scheduled, it's the season's third fireworks night of the year.
For tickets and more information, visit elizabethtontwins.com.