Jul 5, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 2 min read

Hopwood Village Plaza was riding a six-game winning streak in the Fayette County Baseball League.

Then it ran into Mill Run and the ageless Bill Bendis.

The Millers (2-10) rode six strong innings from the 50-year-old lefthander to a 6-3 home victory, cooling off what was the hottest team in the league.

Bendis tossed 83 pitches, 54 for strikes, in going six innings to earn the win. He allowed three runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts and also drove in a run.

Bendis got support from the long ball.

Alek Wagor smacked a two-run homer in the three-run first inning and Marc Prinkey hit a solo shot in the second to help Mill Run build a 4-1 lead.

Hopwood (8-4) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Ryan Covelens walked, went to second on Tate Musko’s single, moved to third on Santino Marra’s walk and scored on Matthew Firestone’s single.

The Millers surged ahead to stay in the bottom of the inning. Josh Burns reached on an error and scored on Colby Simmons’ double to tie it at 1-1. Wagor’s blast followed for a 3-1 lead.

Prinkley homered to left leading off the second to make it 4-1.

The score stayed that way until Hopwood pushed across two runs to cut the gap to one in the fifth inning when Chase Sankovich hit a one-out double and Musko swatted a two-run homer.

Bendis protected the slim lead with a 1-2-3 sixth inning and Mill Run tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the frame.

Cade Warrick led off with a double and Travis Bevard reached on an error to start the rally. Luke Warrick’s one-out single made it 5-3 and Bevard came home on a ground ball by Bendis to set the final score.

Zack Knabenshue pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief of Bendis to earn the save, although it wasn’t easy. Jared Hough and Anthony Piasecki drew walks to start the inning but Knabenshue got a pop out and a double-play grounder started by shortstop Teran Kemp to end it.

Marra was the losing pitcher. Justin Brestensky allowed one earned run in five innings of relief.

Five of the Millers’ seven hits went for extra bases, including a double by Burns.