BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN

STAR CORRESPONDENT

Elizabethton Twins designated hitter / first baseman Albee Weiss went on a power trip against the Burlington Royals this week with four home runs and 11 runs batted in to propel himself to the top of the Appalachian League in both categories.

Weiss has the lead in home runs (8) with Danville’s Bryce Ball (8) and is currently third in runs batted in with 21 behind Ball (23) and Bluefield first baseman Spencer Horwitz (22).

“I never go to the plate thinking home run or RBI,” Weiss said after a recent game. “I just want to hit the ball hard and if it goes out, it goes out.

“The first one he threw me a fastball I could handle. I was just looking for a pitch to hit.”

Friday night was a big night for hitters in the league as three games saw double-figure scores as Greeneville beat Danville 10-0, Bristol scored an 11-0 win over Johnson City and the Twins bashed Burlington 16-3.

In the two other contests, the winning team scored nine runs.

Despite giving up 24 runs in their three-game set with the Twins, Burlington remains at the top of the league in earned run average at 3.82 to Elizabethton’s 3.87. Princeton leads in team batting at .276 to the Twins .263 mark.

Greeneville lefthander Andy Fisher has put up impressive strikeout numbers with 26 K’s in 20.2 innings of work. He has a 0.87 earned run average and has walked just three batters but has not yet gained a decision and his record stands at 0-0.

Twins righthander Prelander Berroa took a hit on Sunday night giving up five earned runs and his ERA soared to 4.98 as a result. The Twins can take solace in that they won the game 13-12 with second baseman Ruben Santana’s second consecutive walk-off hit against Johnson City.

He got the winning hit in Elizabethton’s 3-2 win on Saturday and the Twins came back from a 12-7 ninth-inning deficit to win with Charlie Mack belting a grand slam to tie the game.

Princeton catcher Luis Leon has moved to the top of the league lead in batting with a .375 average and Bristol second baseman Francisco Acuna is second at .356.

Ball continues to impress with his overall numbers of .355 with his 8 HRs and 23 RBI he is looking like an MVP candidate.

Games on tap this week include Johnson City at Elizabethton, Bristol at Pulaski, Princeton at Bluefield, Danville at Burlington and Kingsport at Greeneville.

Motor Mile Field at Calfee Park won the prize for the best rookie level ballpark in a decisive win over Northeast Community Credit Union ballpark (72 percent to 28 percent).

Moving on up

Twins shortstop Spencer Steer and catcher Alex Isola have both been promoted to Cedar Rapids in single A ball.