Guelph Royals 12, Hamilton Thunderbirds 2

In Guelph, Ted Drew Smith homered and drove in three runs to help the Guelph Royals to a 12-2 win over the Hamilton Thunderbirds in Game 7 of their opening round Intercounty Baseball League playoff series on Thursday.

Mike Alati and Frankie Hare also homered and Dave Teboekhorst was three-for-four with a double.

Guelph starter Meleti Melehes (1-0) pitched seven shutout innings, allowing four hits and a walk and striking out eight batters.

Kyle Nicoletta (0-1) allowed six runs - five earned - and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Jon McGinn had a pair of hits, including a double, and Adam Strongman had two hits and drove in a run for Hamilton.

                      1 2 3  4 5 6  7 8 9    R  H  E
HAMILTON THUNDERBIRDS 0 0 0  0 0 0  0 2 0 -  2  7  1
GUELPH ROYALS         0 1 0  1 4 4  2 0 X - 12 15  1

Guelph will meet the Barrie Baycats and the Toronto Maple Leafs will face the Kitchener Panthers in the second round of the IBL playoffs beginning this weekend. Second round playoff dates will be announced shortly.

2005 IBL Playoffs - First Round

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Oshawa Dodgers
(Toronto wins series 4-0)
Game 1 - TORONTO 24, Oshawa 0
Game 2 - Toronto 8, OSHAWA 3
Game 3 - TORONTO 12, Oshawa 5
Game 4 - Toronto 13, OSHAWA 9

Guelph Royals vs. Hamilton Thunderbirds
(Guelph wins series 4-3)
Game 1 - GUELPH 10, Hamilton 0
Game 2 - HAMILTON 7, Guelph 6
Game 3 - GUELPH 6, Hamilton 5 (11 innings)
Game 4 - HAMILTON 5, Guelph 3 (13 innings)
Game 5 - GUELPH 6, Hamilton 5
Game 6 - HAMILTON 13, Guelph 7
Game 7 - GUELPH 12, Hamilton 2

Barrie Baycats vs. London Majors
(Barrie wins series 4-1)
Game 1 - BARRIE 7, London 5
Game 2 - LONDON 2, Barrie 0
Game 3 - BARRIE 9, London 4
Game 4 - Barrie 6, LONDON 4
Game 5 - BARRIE 7, London 3

Brantford Red Sox vs. Kitchener Panthers
(Kitchener wins series 4-1)
Game 1 - Kitchener 5, BRANTFORD 3
Game 2 - Brantford 10, KITCHENER 6
Game 3 - Kitchener 10, BRANTFORD 7 (11 innings)
Game 4 - KITCHENER 7, Brantford 4
Game 5 - Kitchener 9, BRANTFORD 2

* If Necessary
Home team in CAPS