JACKSON, Tenn. - Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is only in its second year in the Southern States Athletic Conference and NAIA. Blake Williams has only been the Stallions' head coach for the same span. Tuesday, Williams was honored by the SSAC as the Mike Jacobs Coach of the Year.

The award comes one day before ABAC begins the SSAC baseball tournament as the regular season champion No. 1 seed.

The Stallions, predicted to finish fourth in the league's preseason poll of coaches, ended the regular season with a 20-7 SSAC record, three games better than any other school.

"Blake has done a wonderful job with the baseball program over the past two seasons as the head coach of the Stallions," said ABAC athletic director Charles Wimberly. "He brings veteran leadership to the program, and our young men have responded to him, and the team chemistry is the catalyst for their success. The 'never give up' attitude that coach has brought to the team and the players responding is the driving force for much success both on the fields of play and off the fields of play. Congrats to Coach Williams, he is much deserving and I am so proud of him and the team."

ABAC is 36-14 overall on the season and riding a 10-game winning streak into the postseason. The team has been ranked by the NAIA most of the regular season.

In two years, Williams is 74-30 with the Stallions. The 38 wins in his first year saw them break the school record for most wins in a year (35, which had been set in 1997) and reach a national tournament in their first year of NAIA ball.

Going into the final week of the regular season, Abraham Baldwin had a one-game lead over Thomas University in the standings. They needed two victories over UT Southern to outright clinch the top spot. ABAC won all three as they have done all year - a combination of outstanding defense, timely hitting and fantastic pitching.

The Stallions had the best earned run average in the SSAC in 2026 at 4.29, nearly a half-run better than second-place William Carey (4.67). They led the league in fielding percentage at .971 and also had the highest slugging percentage (.489). Their batting average of .316 was second to only Thomas' .320.

ABAC begins the playoffs at 2 p.m. EST Wednesday against Brewton-Parker and are hopefuls for the upcoming NAIA national tournament. The SSAC tournament is being streamed live by Urban Edge.