Jun 3, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 3 min read

Carmichaels held a 1-0 lead just three pitches in to its Fayette County Baseball League opener against visiting Hopwood Village Plaza on Tuesday.

As it turned out, that was all the defending champion Copperheads would need with Gianni Cantini on the mound.

Cantini twirled a two-hit shutout and Carmichaels tacked on a run in both the second and third inning on the way to a 3-0 victory over Hopwood.

Cantini gave up a lead-off single to Chase Sankovich in the first inning and a one-out hit to Justin Brestensky in the third. The only other baserunner he allowed was a walk to Louden Conte in the sixth.

Carmichaels had nine hits from nine different players, including a triple by Dom Colarusso and doubles by Dom Obiecunas, Robbie Wilson-Jones and Brodee Latocha.

It didn’t take long for the Copperheads to get Cantini a lead.

Colarusso stroked the second pitch from Hopwood starter Brestensky into left field for a triple and Devin Fluhmann followed with a single on the next pitch to make it 1-0.

Carmichaels pushed across another run in the second.

Brock Bonadio and Luke Camden singled to start the inning but Brestensky started a 1-5-3 double play that left Camden at second. Latocha followed with a double to right to make it 2-0.

The Copperheads plated the final run of the game in the third when Wilson-Jones doubled to left, went to third on Ben Shields’ single and scored when Hopwood committed an error on the play.

Brestensky surrendered all three runs on eight hits with one walk and one strikeout in three innings. Mason Miller followed with three scoreless inning of relief, allowing only one hit with three strikeouts.

OAKLAND 9, MILL RUN 1 — Vincent Aloi went 4 for 4 with a double and two RBIs as the Oaks defeated the visiting Millers.

Oakland took a 3-0 lead in the second inning on a two-run single by Mason Everhart and an RBI hit by Cameron Goble off Mill Run starter Zack Knabenshue.

The Oaks began the third with a walk, a double by Aloi and singles by Joe Sneathen and Michael Thor to go up 5-0, knocking Knabenshue out of the game for reliever Kole Koontz.

Oakland tallied three more runs in the fourth on Easton Rhoten’s sacrifice fly and RBI singles by Chris Green and Aloi.

Aloi added a run-scoring single in the sixth to make it 9-1.

The Millers lone run came in the third when Colby Simmons doubled to center, took third on a ground out and scored on a passed ball.

Winning pitcher Andre Catone tossed a three-hitter, allowing the one unearned run with eight strikeouts and no walks.

Losing pitcher Knabenshue surrendered five runs on eight hits in two-plus innings. Koontz gave up three earned runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts in going the final four frames.

Mill Run’s only hits besides Simmons’ double were singles by Josh Burns and Alek Wagor.