baseball Archive

As is the case with many people that grew up in Baker, Zane Steele’s life has been wrapped up in sports and outdoors activities as long as he can remember.

A 2021 graduate of Baker School, Steele played fullback and defensive end on the 2020 Gator state championship football team. He also was a member of the weightlifting team, which helped develop his 5-10, 200-pound body into a mass of muscle.

Baseball can be the cruelest of masters and the greatest of games. Often it can be both in the same game. The Crestview baseball team will attest to that after beating Pine Forest 5-4 on Friday night.

You have to be a catcher, or maybe an old defensive lineman or rugby player, to understand why Javin Shoemake loves being behind the plate for the Crestview baseball team.

“Honestly, the pain,” said Shoemake, Crestview’s senior catcher. “Pain feels nice. There’s nothing like blocking the ball and it hurts.”

You don’t have to be a baseball expert to know that if a team strikes out four times the number of hits it has, it probably won’t win. That’s exactly what happened to the Crestview baseball team on Thursday night its game with rival Niceville. Bulldog batters produced just three hits while striking 12 times, five of which were watching a called third strike.

Laurel Hill head baseball coach Cory McSween was a young assistant coach to Ronnie Smith the last time the Hoboes were in the playoffs. That was more than a decade ago in 2012 and McSween, now in his fourth year leading the program, would like to see that drought come to an end.

Laurel Hill baseball coach Cory McSween had no explanation for his team’s defensive meltdown against L.E.A.D Academy on Tuesday. The Hoboes made 10 errors and allowed six stolen bases for by the Lions. Add seven walks and a hit batter and it was recipe for disaster for Laurel Hill.

Coming off a win over Pensacola High School at Blue Wahoo Stadium on Saturday, the Baker baseball team was in for a let down on Monday. The Gators played host to a talented Cottondale team that was looking for a first win of the season.

Good pitching, solid defense and timely hitting are the keys to winning in baseball. If you have one element in a game, you can win. If you have two, you have a decent chance of winning. When all three are clicking, a team will win most of the time.

It hasn’t been 100 years since the Baker School baseball team last appeared in the state playoffs. But it’s easy to see why it might feel that way.

The Gators made the playoffs three consecutive years between 2005 and 2007. The 2007 playoff appearance under Gary Taylor, who is now an assistant principal at Baker, was the last for the Gators.

It will be a few weeks before Baker School baseball coach Preston Nixon knows what kind of hand he’ll have for the 2023 season. But he got his first look at his potential team on Jan. 23 as the Gators, along with teams from across Florida, took to the field for the first day of practice.

Nixon felt at home on the high school community field at the Baker recreation complex. He should as it was his home diamond during his days as a Gator baseball player.