First-place Ice Haulers win ninth straight

PERKINS TWP. -- The Sandusky Bay Ice Haulers dominated a matchup between the top two teams in the GLSCL North Division on Sunday night, defeating Jet Box Baseball Club 7-2 at Sports Force Parks. The win was Sandusky Bay's ninth straight and 16th in its last 17 outings. The Ice Haulers (16-6) now lead Jet Box (13-7) by two games in the division. The Haulers scored in five of eight at-bats and took control with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Mark Connelly (Lansing CC) had an RBI double and Three Hillier (Liberty) added a two-run double. Landon Smiddy (East Tennessee State) picked up the pitching victory, striking out nine in six innings. Smiddy allowed only two hits and one run. His ERA this season is 1.80. Four Ice Hauler pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts. Owen Kovacs got the save with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Zach Campbell (Tiffin) went 3 for 4 with two doubles and scored two runs for Sandusky Bay, which finished with 10 hits. Scott Mackiewicz (Toledo) added a double and drove in two runs to bring his season total to 31 RBI, second in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League. The Ice Haulers moved into first place in the North on Saturday night with a 4-2 win over Grand Lake. Chris LoCurto's solo home run in the bottom of the fifth proved to be the winning run. It was the first homer of the summer for LoCurto (college undecided). Luke Lashutka (St. Bonaventure) got the pitching win, throwing six shutout innings. Gino Sabatine threw a scoreless ninth to pick up the save. Mackiewicz also homered for Sandusky Bay. It was his fifth homer of the summer, which is second among all GLSCL players. On Friday, Sandusky Bay gave up four runs in the first inning and four in the ninth but held on for a 12-11 win over Royal Oak. Nick Mueller (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) went 3 for 3 for the Ice Haulers, who led 10-4 after three innings. Connelly was 3 for 5 and Mackiewicz was 2 for 4 with three RBI. Sandusky Bay is off Monday before a road game Tuesday against the Michigan Monarchs. The Ice Haulers' only home game this week is Wednesday against Galion.