MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com-GREENEVILLE, TN – The Braves scored the first six runs against Greeneville Friday night and they stretched their season-opening winning streak to four games with a 9-3 victory over the Astros. Robbie Hefflinger rocked two home runs and drove in four runs to lead the offense, while the pitching staff was solid again in limiting the Astros to just three runs.

Danville got on the board in the first inning for the third straight game on a sacrifice fly by Hefflinger, who leads the league with nine RBI. In the second inning, an L.V. Ware bases-loaded single made it 2-0. Ware now has a hit in all four games this season.

The Braves stretched that lead to six in the top of the third inning, the eighth straight inning they scored a run, going back to Thursday’s win at Pulaski. Hefflinger led off with a homer. Two batters later Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg singled and scored on a double by Daniel Elorriaga-Matra. Jordan Kreke followed with a double for the first RBI of his career. Travis Adair followed with a walk before Ware reached on an fielding error, allowing Kreke to score the final run of the inning.
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The Astros got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the third on a home run by Julio Martinez off Braves starter Tyler Stovall. The Braves got a run back in the fifth when Ware singled on a bunt and scored on a double by Adam Milligan, who has been scorching in his first four games this season.

Greeneville tacked on a single run in the seventh on a single, stolen base, and an RBI single off Matt Crim to make it 7-3. Hefflinger, though, would close the scoring the eighth with a two-run blast that followed Milligan’s walk to start the inning.

Crim (1-0) earned the win, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts in 4.2 innings of relief. Stovall was effective but not sharp in his start, working 3.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He walked four and struck out four. Thomas Berryhill worked a perfect ninth to close the game. Gabrie Garcia (0-1) took the loss for Greeneville, allowing six runs (four earned) on seven hits in 2.1 innings.

Offensively, Hefflinger was the star, going 2-5 with a pair of homers and four RBI. Spanjer-Furstenburg chimed in with four hits and leads the team with a video game-like .636 batting average. Ware, Milligan, and Kreke had two hits apiece.

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