Guelph Royals 12, Brantford Red Sox 8

In Brantford, Eric Laseke singled and then scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Chris Becker in the eighth inning to give the Guelph Royals a 12-8 win over the Red Sox in the first game of the 2003 IBL Championship Series.

Kyle Leon doubled and homered and Trevor Churchill added a pair of hits, scored twice and drove in four runs for Guelph.

Aaron Little (2-0) was the winner after giving up one run and four hits in 4 1/3 innings of relief for starter Mel Melehes, who allowed seven runs in four innings.

Steve Charles belted a pair of doubles and drove in a run and Rich Reid added a pair of hits, including a triple, and scored a run for Brantford.

Mark Ferguson (0-1) allowed six runs - two earned - and four hits in two innings of relief after Brett Gibson surrendered six runs in a six-inning start.

                  1 2 3  4 5 6  7 8 9    R  H  E
GUELPH ROYALS     0 1 1  3 0 1  1 5 0 - 12 11  3
BRANTFORD RED SOX 0 0 0  2 5 0  0 1 0 -  8 11  2

(Guelph leads series 1-0)
Game 1 - Guelph 12, Brantford 8
Game 2 - Sat. Aug. 23 at Guelph, 2:00 p.m.
Game 3 - Sun. Aug. 24 at Guelph, 2:00 p.m.
Game 4 - Tues. Aug. 26 at Brantford, 8:00 p.m.
Game 5 - Thurs. Aug. 28 at Guelph, 8:00 p.m. *
Game 6 - Fri. Aug. 29 at Brantford, 8:00 p.m. *
Game 7 - Sat. Aug. 30 at Guelph, 2:00 p.m. *

* if necessary