Lions Round Out Baseball Staff for 2025 Campaign

East Mississippi Community College has put its finishing touches on the baseball coaching staff for the 2025 season. Head Coach Brett Kimbrel made three more moves to complete the staff.

Returning assistant coach Dylan Earnest has been given an elevated role after finishing his third season primarily as the Lions’ pitching coach. Before arriving in Scooba, Earnest was an assistant coach for five years at his alma mater, Itawamba Community College. During his first two seasons in Fulton, he was a member of two straight NJCAA Region 23 Tournament squads, and both teams reached a No. 2 national ranking.

Returning assistant Wesley Sides is a former slugging infielder for Coach Kimbrel’s 2021 and 2022 teams, and he has been a valuable recruiter and scouter in Scooba. Sides has accepted more scouting and recruiting responsibilities. As a player, Sides started in 69 outings and recorded a .311 career batting average along with a .593 slugging percentage and 18 home runs.

The last coaching staff change for EMCC heading into the 2025-26 season is the addition of first-year assistant Chase Honeycutt. Honeycutt started as a catcher in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons for Jones College. In his third-year sophomore season, he hammered four homers and nine doubles while posting 36 runs and 24 RBIs in 45 starts.

After finishing his time at Jones, Honeycutt moved on to continue his baseball career in college at Lindenwood University in 2024. This past season, he worked on the team’s staff helping with Lindenwood’s catchers.

The Lions had a 22-win season in 2024-25, and these coaching changes can be a positive shift in momentum as East Mississippi seeks a deep playoff run in the near future.

Author administrator Kellen Walker