in 1978 with a first-place 41–28 record. Manager Fred Waters, who had been leading the team since 1975, was selected for the Appalachian League Manager of the Year Award. Waters led Elizabethton to its second championship in 1984. They won the Southern Division title with a 40–29 record, then defeated the Pulaski Braves in a one-game playoff for the Appalachian League title. Waters won Manager of the Year honors, as he also had in 1981. In 1987, Ray Smith replaced Waters as the Twins' manager after 12 years guiding the team. Smith would go on the become the winningest manager in Appalachian League history with 1,048 wins from 1987 to 1994 and 2002 to 2019. He would win a record seven Manager of the Year Awards and lead Elizabethton to nine league championships. The first two championship seasons under Smith came back-to-back in 1989 and 1990. The 1989 team won the Southern Division and defeated Pulaski, 2–0, in the finals. The 1990 Twins set a franchise record with their 51–16 (.761) season and earned the league crown with a first-place finish. On August 26, 1991, Eddie Guardado pitched a no-hitter versus the Pulaski Braves, 5–0, at Joe O'Brien Field. They missed the playoffs that season but returned in 1992 and 1993 by virtue of winning the Southern Division title, only to lose in the championship finals. Smith was selected for four consecutive Manager of the Year Awards from 1989 to 1992. Another playoff drought occurred from 1994 to 1999, the longest in franchise history. Over 20 years from 2000 to 2019, the Twins qualified for the postseason 15 times. Jeff Carter, the 2000 season's Manager of the Year, led Elizabethton to the Southern Division title and the franchise's fifth Appalachian League championship. After losing in the finals of 2001 under Manager of the Year Rudy Hernández, Ray Smith returned to lead the team in 2002. He guided the Twins to league titles in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2017, and 2018. On July 16, 2011, pitchers Tim Shibuya (7 IP), Garrett Jewel (1 IP), and Steven Gruver (1 IP) combined to no-hit the Greeneville Astros, 6–0, on the road. The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled on June 30. In conjunction with a contraction of Minor League Baseball beginning with the 2021 season, the Appalachian League was reorganized as a