Delfino's homer leads Red Sox past Guelph 4-1

GUELPH, Ont. - The two-time defending Intercounty Baseball League Champion Brantford Red Sox opened their 2010 IBL season with a 4-1 road victory over the Guelph Royals at Hastings Stadium Tuesday night.

"It was a good overall game for us tonight to open the season," said Brantford field manager Adam Clarke. "We looked very good defensively tonight. Late in the game the key part of our lineup was able to manufacture a couple runs for insurance."

Guelph's Ryan Hart and Brantford's Scott Robinson got the nod on the hill on opening night as they went head-to-head. Hart (0-1) allowed two runs on three hits over five innings of work while Robinson (1-0) gave up one run (unearned) on four hits over six complete while striking out five.

Just four batters in, Brantford veteran Lee Delfino put his team on the board as he belted a two-run homer scoring Josh McCurdy to take a 2-0 lead after one half inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Guelph player/coach Kevin Hinton would make it a 2-1 game with a sacrifice fly to centerfield scoring Jeremy Ware.

In the final two innings the Red Sox would add to their lead. In the eighth, Guelph's Frankie Hare would make a throwing error from third scoring Tyler Brunell from second. In the ninth, Josh McCurdy hit a sacrifice fly to right scoring Al Stephens to put Brantford up 4-1.

In the bottom of the ninth, Brantford would go to the best closer in the game in 2009 IBL playoff MVP Stefan Strecker. He would close the Royals down on five pitches, all strikes, with two groundouts and a fly ball to second base for his first save of the season.

Inside the Numbers... Lee Delfino is one hit shy of 200 in a Red Sox uniform.

Teams      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9   R H E
Brantford  2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 - 4 6 1
Guelph     0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 4 3

Top Hitters
Brantford                                Guelph
Al Stephens (1-for-4, 2B, 1 run)         Frankie Hare (1-for-3)
Lee Delfino (1-for-4, 2-run HR, 2 RBI)   G. McCallum (1-for-3)
Tyler Brunell (1-for-5, 2B, 1 run)

Pitching
Winning Pitcher - Scott Robinson (BRA) (6.0 IP, 1R, 0ER, 4H, 5K, 1BB)
Losing Pitcher  - Ryan Hart (GUE) (5.0 IP, 2R, 2ER, 3H, 0K, 3BB)
Save            - Stefan Strecker (BRA) (1 IP, 0R, 0H, 0K, 0BB)

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