EMCC Lions set for Tuesday’s conference baseball season opener at Holmes

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College's baseball team collectively looks to the upcoming conference season as a fresh start to the 2026 campaign. The Lions will have their first opportunity to begin anew on the diamond with Tuesday's (March 10) conference-opening road doubleheader at Holmes. EMCC's scheduled MACCC season debut has been moved up a day due to Wednesday's rainy forecast.

On the heels of Tuesday's 2 p.m. twin bill in Goodman against the Holmes Bulldogs, EMCC head coach Brett Kimbrel's 6-17 EMCC Lions are scheduled to close out the current month with four home MACCC doubleheaders that will bookend a pair of road conference twin bills. Upcoming home contests against Southwest Mississippi (March 14) and Mississippi Delta (March 17) will be followed by road outings at Pearl River (March 21) and Northwest Mississippi (March 25). EMCC's month of March is set to conclude with home doubleheaders versus Meridian (March 28) and Itawamba (March 31).

EMCC's half-dozen wins thus far have included a home doubleheader sweep over Gadsden State (6-0 & 13-1) to close out the month of February, during which the Lions received complete-game pitching performances from sophomore Evan Hilliard and freshman Jax Joyner. Hilliard, from Saraland, Ala., threw a two-hit shutout with eight strikeouts over seven innings in the opening game to improve his record to a team-best 2-0 on the year. Joyner, out of Meridian's Clarkdale High School, scattered six hits over five frames in EMCC's run-rule nightcap win over Gadsden State to collect his first collegiate victory.

The Lions' initial wins in non-conference play this season came during back-to-back doubleheader splits with Snead State during a home-and-home series the weekend of Feb. 7-8, in which they won the opening games before dropping the nightcap decisions. Later in the month (Feb. 20-21), EMCC salvaged a four-game home weekend series against Dyersburg State with a 12-2 run-rule nightcap victory on the second day of consecutive twin bills played in Scooba.

Most recently on the diamond, the Lions opened the month of March by dropping a tough 5-4 road decision at Gadsden State before falling in non-conference play to MACCC foes Pearl River (9-5) and Southwest Mississippi (3-0) during last Tuesday's (March 3) EMCC-hosted, round-robin event.  

Offensively through the year's first 23 games, the Lions feature five regulars batting .290 or better on the season. Despite an injury-slowed start to the season, freshman Jonas Coleman is hitting a team-high .464 (13-for-28) in 14 games played. The Starkville product also picked up a 12-1 run-rule, complete-game pitching win at MACCC foe Hinds on Feb. 17.

Sophomore first baseman Caidan Bullard (Olive Branch, MS/DeSoto Central HS) leads EMCC's hitters with 18 RBIs on the year while hitting .308 with four home runs and three doubles. Sophomore middle infielder Colin Boyd (West Point, MS/Oak Hill Academy) tops the Lions with five homers and is second on the team with 13 RBIs. Bullard and Boyd have each hit grand slams this season.

Other top hitters for East Mississippi through non-conference play include sophomore centerfielder Sam McClinton Jr. (.297) along with freshmen Ty Wiggins (.292) and Logan Flaskamp (.290).

The Lions' other two pitching wins to date this season have been earned by third-year sophomore left-handers Garrett Pound and Elijah Young.

EMCC's final month of conference baseball action this regular season will include home doubleheaders against Jones (April 11), Northeast Mississippi (April 22) and Mississippi Gulf Coast (April 25). The Lions will also have road twin bills in April versus Copiah-Lincoln (April 3), Coahoma (April 14), Hinds (April 18) and East Central (April 29).