Crestview baseball hasn’t made the playoffs since 2015. Through the first nine games of this season, the Bulldogs are making a case that the drought could end this year.

• Crestview sits at 5-4 after a strong start that includes a statement road win over Niceville and a victory over Tate, which made the playoffs last season. The Bulldogs also split their series with Sweet 16-bound West Florida Tech.

Head Coach Tim Gillis recognizes the weight of the Niceville win in particular.

“We have a lot of respect for Coach Bruce and the Niceville baseball team,” Gillis said. “Anytime you can beat a quality program like that is special. We have to be ready to play every day when you have the quality of opponents that we play.”

The Bulldogs’ four losses have come against stiff competition: Pace, which reached the Sweet 16 last year; playoff-bound Mosley; West Florida Tech; and a March 3 rematch with Tate, a 7-6 loss. Both Pace and Mosley look like state title contenders early in the season.

That difficult schedule has tested a Crestview roster that only has two seniors in key roles: Kevin Bottom and Kyle Williamson. But the Bulldogs aren’t short on experience. The roster is loaded with juniors who saw significant playing time as sophomores last season.

“We return a lot of experience from last year even though we are young,” Gillis said. “A lot of our players played quite a bit last year as freshmen and sophomores so they have been through the battles before.”

Junior Cam Cook is in the middle of a breakout year with five hits and a home run. Nauver Macayo has emerged as a power bat with five hits while leading the team in batting average. Johnny Thorpe, Zach Smith and Kallen Billings have contributed at the plate and on defense.

The biggest strength so far has been pitching. Crestview’s rotation features Landon Peters, two-way players Zander Keith, Hayden Graham and Landon Baggett, and freshman Tucker Raef. Outside of the losses to West Florida Tech and Mosley, the Bulldogs’ pitching and defense have been sharp.

“I have been really impressed with our pitching and overall toughness of our team, but we also know it is a long season and you have to prepare and perform every day in a championship-type manner,” Gillis said.

Gillis said the offense still has room to grow.

“We have struggled hitting in the early part of the season, so we are working hard to increase our offensive production,” he said.

If the pitching holds and the bats come around, Crestview could be in for a strong second half of the season.