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FREDERICTON - The search for provincial junior baseball bragging rights is about to begin.

Fredericton Tim Hortons Royals and Chatham O'Donaghues Ironmen will clash in Game 1 of their N.B. Junior Baseball League championship series tonight at Royals Field at 7:30 p.m.

Game 2 is tomorrow night at Ironmen Park in Miramichi with Game 3 back at Royals Field Sunday afternoon beginning at 1:30. If required, Game 4 would be back in Miramichi Monday night with a fifth game at Royals Field on Tuesday.

The Royals, fresh off posting a 2-2 record at the junior baseball nationals in Charlottetown, are favoured in the best-of-five series after posting a 22-2 regular season record.

The Fredericton club also was impressive in their best-of-five semifinal series sweep of Bathurst Eagles (8-1, 5-2 and 11-1).

The Ironmen, on the other hand, finished sixth during the regular season with a 9-16 mark but were able to upset the Moncton Tim Hortons Cubs by scores of 1-0, 4-3 and 5-4 in the other semifinal.

Head to head, the Royals won each of the four meetings including 9-3 June 3, 6-5 June 16, 8-2 July 2 and 10-0 on July 8.

Tyler Cormier is the most explosive Ironmen hitter going by season stats with a .458 average including 11 hits, three homers and 11 RBIs in 24 at-bats. Orry Cook hit .361 during the season with 27 hits in 74 at-bats.

Pitching-wise, David DeWolfe finished 3-1 with a 2.21 ERA for the Ironmen while Cook had a 4-1 record and a 2.92 ERA on the mound.

Leading the Royals offensively are pitcher-designated hitter Dan Reid with a .458 batting average, shortstop David Crossman with a .361 mark including 20 stolen bases and 26 hits and infielder Pat Dawson with a .320 mark including 24 hits and 21 RBIs.

Reid is the team's ace with a 6-0 record and 1.89 ERA including 51 strikeouts in 37 innings pitched. Matt Wood also went 6-0 with an ERA of 1.24. Troy Bishop won four of five games and had a 2.68 ERA in 31.1 innings pitched. He also had 40 strikeouts.