Here they go again.

The Braves, seeded ninth, banged out three home runs, including a grand slam by Rob Safir in the top of the second inning that broke the game open, on the way to a 15-2, five-inning win over No. 8 Tenafly on Monday afternoon.

Tenafly had its highlight in the home half of the first inning when its leadoff hitter Chris Brown doubled into rightfield and scored two batters later on Brian Sherman’s sacrifice fly, but when Indian Hills took its next turn at bat, the game changed quickly.

Justin Van Grouw (2-for-4, R, RBI) singled leading off the top of the second, Chris Turton (1-for-4, R) reached on a throwing error and Jake Hazen was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs in front of Safir, a sophomore, who was thinking more of just making contact than yanking one out over the right field fence.

“I was a little nervous. It’s my first year here [on varsity], we were down by one and I was just trying to get a base hit, a walk or something to help the team,” said Safir, the No. 8 batter in the Indian Hills lineup. “But I got a pitch I could hit. It was a fastball low and inside and I was able to turn on it and give us the lead.”

And it was a lead that would only grow. Still leading 4-1 heading into the top of the fourth Brian Sees (3-for-4, 2 R, RBI, SB) got another rally started out of the No. 9 hole with a one-out single. Ryan Furbeck (1-for-2, 2 R) followed with a walk and Dan Dodd’s single scored Sees for a 5-1 lead. And the next two hitters, Jared Avidon (2-for-2, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R) and Mike Marscovetra (1-for-4, HR, RBI, 2R), then cranked back-to-back homers to stretch the Braves’ advantage to 9-1.

Avidon’s shot was a two-run job that went out just to the right of straight away centerfield and Marscovetra’s blast went out to left field as Indian Hills continued to pad its lead.

The Braves were coming off a tough loss to St. Joseph on Saturday in the Round of 16 of the Bergen County Tournament, but as the No. 15 seed that hung with the No. 2 and a parochial power to boot in a 5-3 loss, Indian Hills head coach George Hill just wanted to see his team stay aggressive.

“We were just talking about not having a letdown. I was very pleased with the way we played against St. Joseph, we had great hacks against that kid [Brendan Lobban] and we were not intimidated at all,” said Hill. “I was very pleased and all that loss meant was that we were not going to win the county championship but we still plenty to play for and today was the right way to start the rest of our season.”

Tenafly got one run back in the bottom of the fourth when John Sobo’s groundout scored Sherman, who led off the frame with a single, but the Tigers could manage just five hits off of Van Grouw, who threw five strong innings to pick up the win. He struck out seven, including the side in the bottom of the fifth and final inning, and he did not walk a batter.

“It’s always nice to work with a lead. It makes the game a lot easier. I had a lot to live up to because Jake Hazen pitched a great game against [Tenafly] in the state tournament last year,” said Van Grouw, who was able to throw both his curveball and changeup for strikes. “Coach Hill mixed up my pitches pretty well. He had me start off a lot of hitters with off speed pitches and that worked out pretty well.”

Leading 9-2 after having sent nine hitters to the plate in the second inning and eight more in the fourth, Indian Hills closed the game out by batting around plus three in the top of the fifth. Hazen, who was hit by two pitches in the game and scored both times, got on the hard way leading off the inning and was the first of fourth straight batters to reach base, a streak that was only snapped with Dodd lifted a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Avidon followed with a two-run single and Van Grouw also knocked in a run during the decisive six-run frame.

Tenafly saw it season come to an end with a 16-10 record. The Tigers won 10 games in the BCSL-American Division and reached the Bergen County and state sectional tournaments. Indian Hills improved to 14-7 and is two games behind Ramsey in the Division 2 of the NBIL.

Ramsey swept the season series between the two teams and has just three league games left to the Braves’ five, but regardless of what happens with the rest of the regular season, there is still some unfinished business. Ramsey is the No. 1 seed in North 1, Group 2 and is Indian Hills’ next state tournament opponent.