baseball Archive

To be the best you have to beat the best. Beating the best was the task the Laurel Hill baseball team faced on Monday when hosting rival Paxton. For more than 20 years the Bobcats have consistently been among the best 1A teams in Northwest Florida if not the state. This year’s version of the Bobcats, led by 2001 LHS graduate Nate Moore, should again be one of the better 1A teams in the area.

Laurel Hill senior shortstop Benny Hudson might be considered an old school baseball player.

In an age when players use batting gloves to get a firm grip, Hudson does what players in generations gone by did, he picks up a handful of dirt and rubs his hands to get a firm grip on the bat.

When it rains, it pours. And that was a good thing for the Baker baseball team on Monday against Santa Rosa Christian. The Gators sent 18 batters to the plate and scored 13 runs in the first inning on nine hits, three hit batters and two walks. Baker added three more runs in the second inning as the Gators poured it on to take a 16-2 win in five innings.

The 2024 baseball season got off to a rough start for Laurel Hill on Thursday with the Hoboes dropping the opener 10-1 to Aletheia Christian Academy.

There was no joy in Crestview High School baseball complex on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs opened the season with a talented Mosley squad and were no match for the visiting Dolphins. Crestview managed just two hits by Anthony St. Vincent in a 7-0 loss.

The Crestview baseball team was fortunate that Tuesday’s game with Niceville was only a preseason contest. The Bulldogs played good defense executing a couple of impressive pickoff plays. But as far as hitting and pitching goes, there wasn’t much to smile about in a 6-1 loss.

Anthony St. Vincent will be staying close to home as he continues his baseball career. The Crestview third baseman/pitcher/outfielder signed a scholarship with Northwest Florida State College on Wednesday at a Signing Day Ceremony at Pounders in Crestview.

There’s nothing that says spring is right around the corner than the start of the high school baseball season.

Teams across the state of Florida can play preseason games starting Feb. 12 and begin regular season play on Feb. 19.

Javin Shoemake will be trading the so-called tools of ignorance for the green, green grass of home next spring. Shoemake the catcher on Crestview High School’s baseball team the last few seasons has graduated and signed to play at Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Ala., where he will move to the outfield.

John Gillis still has big baseball dreams that include one day playing pro baseball.

Gillis played baseball and football at Crestview. The latter part of his senior football season, he was the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs. But baseball always has been his first love, which is to be expected as his father, Tim, is a former minor league player and the Crestview baseball coach.