Three years. Three coaches. Now a fourth in year three as well. Head Coach Aubrey Gillentine, an Amory native, has his sights set on bringing the glory back to the Mississippi Delta Community College baseball diamond. Gillentine came to MDCC last August as an assistant, along with former University of Southern Mississippi player Danny Lynch, who was hired as head coach. But Lynch moved on to Abilene Christian University as an assistant coach this past December. The duo were hired to replace last year’s one-year coach, Adrian Dorsey, who had followed Luke Stanley, who moved on to Delta State as an assistant coach.
Coach Gillentine’s background includes playing at USM before transferring to UNC-Charlotte as a pitcher. This will be his first formal head coaching position. He attended Amory High School and was named First Team All-State in 2018. He went on to enjoy a five-year collegiate playing career, making contributions on the mound at both Southern Miss and UNC-Charlotte.
He began his college career at Southern Miss in 2019, appearing in relief as a freshman and competing in the LSU Regional. After the shortened 2020 season, he became a steady bullpen presence in 2021, helping the Golden Eagles reach the Oxford Regional final. In 2022, he capped his time in Hattiesburg with an impressive 1.93 ERA, helping the program secure a regional host site, win a regional championship and advance to the super regionals.
Gillentine concluded his playing career at Charlotte in 2023, making key appearances in conference play, the Conference USA Tournament and the Clemson Regional. Off the field, he excelled academically, earning multiple honors, including the President’s List, the Dean’s List, and the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Now he brings all of that experience and classroom excellence to Moorhead to put to good use.
But looking at the 2026 season, the Trojans still compete in the SEC of the JUCO world — the MACCC. With the first two games of the season canceled, the season will begin on Feb. 3 when they travel to Southwest Tennessee Community College. Coach Gillentine is ready to lead the Trojans.
“A lot of the stuff has been the same — the days of practice, the daily schedule is a lot of the same but obviously just taking more responsibility as the head coach,” Coach Gillentine said. “Being at the junior college level, it’s all about player development. Nobody’s dream school is to go to a junior college, but we’re doing everything we can to work with these guys and get them to the level they want to be at, whether it’s Division I or Division II, DIII or NAIA.”
The hometown support has been showing up as well.
“There’s a lot of excitement building around the program right now. I’ve had several alumni reach out and say they want to help and be part of it. The excitement and level of interest in the program is at an all-time high,” he added.
The program enters the 2026 season with a balanced roster built on experience, depth and an influx of new talent. With 12 players returning from last year's 6-36 squad, there are 20 newcomers who are expected to contribute immediately across the lineup and pitching staff.
“In JUCO, you want to have a good mix of players. You’ve only got two grades to work with, freshmen and sophomores, so you need balance,” he explained. “We’ve got a good mix of guys that have experience at the junior college level, whether it’s here or somewhere else. And we have good, talented freshmen that have come in, and I expect them to take a pretty big role right away.”
The former pitcher added some pitching depth to his team over the Christmas break.
“I like where we’re at with our pitching staff. Some guys that may not have had the best season last year are ready to take a pretty big jump this year and contribute a lot. We’ve got some good freshmen that are going to see a lot of time on the mound this year whether starting or coming out of the bullpen.”
MDCC has a core of sophomore arms in Garner Burton, Liam Ledbetter, Carson Allen, Hayes Daniel and Logan Churchill. Together, the group brings back 60 appearances and 120 innings of experience, providing stability and leadership for the pitching staff.
“I'm looking for big improvement heading into 2026 from our sophomore pitchers who got their feet wet last season,” Coach Gillentine said. “Guys like Garner Burton, Hayes Daniel and Logan Churchill made massive jumps this fall once we had a developmental plan in place. Then you've got Liam Ledbetter and Carson Allen, who are elite strike throwers I can trust in almost any situation.”
A mix of freshmen and transfers will hopefully provide more depth for the Trojans. Freshmen Brody Roberts and Reed Holman are expected to see significant time in the starting rotation, while Tyler Richardson, Winn White, Carson Shells and Jake Bailey project as key bullpen pieces. MDCC has also added four transfer pitchers — Mikko Taylor, Jaiden McKinney, Gabe Pipkins and Will Krehely — bringing valuable junior college experience to the staff.
“Brody has a good pitch mix, good velocity and is going to keep guys off balance,” Coach Gillentine said. “Then Reed Holman, a left-handed pitcher from Bayou Academy, just has a different level of mentality. He doesn’t have elite velocity that you look for, but as far as the way he competes on the mound, that’s what any coach is ready for. Out of the bullpen, Hayes Daniel is set to be the big situation guy, the closer. He has velocity in the upper 80s and will touch 90s this year but has one of the best curveballs I’ve ever seen at any level. He’s going to rely on that a lot.”
He’s looking for the mound experience to be key this season.
“Being able to acquire pitchers with previous junior college experience will be huge for us in 2026,” Gillentine said. “It's a long season, and the more depth we can create, the better. Seeing these guys buy into our system and team culture has been awesome to watch."
Behind the plate, there’s a battle between freshman Hunter Turner and Shorter University transfer Luke Sims.
“Turner is a good hitter, very solid behind the plate. Sims is really elite defensively, great at receiving and has a very strong arm. They are battling it out for the top spot and both will see a lot of time behind the plate,” Coach Gillentine said.
One familiar Trojan name on the baseball roster is a Trojan football star — “Sugarfoot” — All MACCC Punter Ceidrick Hunt.
“He’s awesome. He’s a middle infielder for us, makes a lot of contact, re
ally good in situations and pretty solid defensively,” Coach Gillentine said. “He’s just an awesome teammate and a great guy to have around.”
Looking at his starters, “I think offensively, the top half of our lineup is going to be really strong. Leading off, we’ve got D.J. Temple, a sophomore from Hattiesburg. He gets on base a lot, is really fast in the outfield and we look to him to be a big contributor. Trent Wood and Connor Counts are behind him, two good bats. Trent Wood is more of a gap-to-gap guy and is going to get on base a lot and hit for a high average. Connor Counts is more of a power bat. He’s going to drive in runs for us.”
A transfer from Meridian Community College, Dow McGowan will be relied upon for his power bat as well.
“We’ve got a good balance of guys that are going to get on base and guys that are going to drive in runs.”
With returning production, internal development, and new pitching depth, the Trojans look well-positioned to compete throughout the 2026 season. And needing to replace himself on the bench with an assistant coach, Gillentine has hired a familiar name in Mississippi — a Bianco.
“My assistant coach is Michael Bianco Jr. (son of Ole Miss Head Baseball Coach Mike Bianco). He’s been coaching in high school for a few years and obviously his contacts at Ole Miss and just across the Division I level are as good as anybody, so he’s been an awesome help.”
In looking at the MACCC, Coach Gillentine knows there is no easy matchup — ever.
“The MACCC is one of the best, if not the best, junior college leagues in the country,” he said. “People compare it to the SEC of junior college baseball, so week in and week out, you’re playing as good a talent as anybody in the country.”
Coach Gillentine describes his coaching philosophy as “a new school coach with kind of an old school approach. We’re still going to preach the mentality and the culture aspect of it and get the right type of guys in here. We’re going to play the style of game that we want to play, but at the same time we’re going to believe in the analytics and believe in the new age of baseball, whether it be strikeouts, hitting home runs, stealing bases. We’re not going to play as much small ball as other teams but that will definitely be part of our game this year.”
As the newest head coach in a short time span taking on his first ever coaching job and jumping from assistant to the top spot, Coach Gillentine is ready.
“I’m excited to get rolling. I like our guys a lot and they’ve really bought into the vision that I have for this program and where we can go. I think the group we have right now can be the first step towards getting us where we want to be,” he said. “Our slogan this year is ‘winning habits.’ They didn’t win many games last year, and one thing we wanted to emphasize was that in order to win games, you’ve got to do what winners do. Everything we do day in and day out, is just creating little winning habits. Whether it’s cleaning up the locker room every day, making our field look good, the attention to detail in the weight room, or all the small aspects we go over in practice, can lead to big things during the season. We’re creating those winning habits as we go along.”
And the future already looks bright for the diamond Trojans as Coach Gillentine has been recruiting non-stop.
“Our recruiting class for 2026 is very spread out between Hattiesburg, the Jackson area, up to Northeast Mississippi and all across Louisiana and Arkansas,” Coach Gillentine said. “We’ve done a good job of selling them on rebuilding our once proud program. We’ve got 14 guys signed so it’s shaping up nicely.”
They kick off the season on Tuesday, February 3rd, traveling to Southwest Tennessee Community College for a doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m. For a full schedule, check out MDCCTrojans.com.
