ABAC head baseball coach Brooks Calvo.

TIFTON — Brooks Calvo is taking the reins of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College baseball, a new, but familiar face for the Stallions for their last season in the NJCAA.

Calvo was announced as the squad’s interim new leader last week. He succeeds Matthew Williams in the role after spending the last two years as Williams’ assistant.

“I’m really excited for the opportunity,” said Calvo, who played collegiately at South Georgia State — where he was GCAA Player of the Year in 2015 — and USC-Aiken and has coached at Flagler College in Florida. Well settled here, he said, “Tifton’s been an awesome home for me.”

Equally excited for Calvo is ABAC athletic director Chuck Wimberly.

“Brooks will do a great job for ABAC,” Wimberly said, talking about Calvo’s six years of coaching experience and baseball genes. His brother, Blair Calvo, reached the Majors with the Colorado Rockies earlier this year as a pitcher and, after being dealt to Detroit, is currently with the AAA Toledo Mud Hens.

“Just really proud for him,” Wimberly said, “and the opportunity he’s going to have to help ABAC continue to be successful.”

Calvo said he is ready to see what ABAC can do. The Stallions advanced to the finals of the GCAA tournament this spring. After losing their first contest in the double-elimination format to Andrew College, they went on a hitting tear, winning three straight, including a rematch against Andrew. With both squads facing a win-or-go-home situation, Andrew prevailed, 11-6.

Overall, ABAC was 31-30 for the year and 14-11 in the GCAA.

“My goal for our guys is to be better than they were last year,” he said.

Calvo said he had learned much from his previous programs, and under Williams. “I’ve learned a lot from head coaches and being a part of practice every day and how they go about their business,” he said.

The biggest thing for the future, he said, will be that transition to a four-year school. The Stallions are to make that jump in fall 2024. “I’m excited to see how our guys respond going into a four-year program.”

ABAC was pretty evenly balanced with its roster last spring, nearly an even count between sophomores and freshmen. It’s the nature of junior college baseball, he said, to have to constantly rebuild. Calvo believes he and Williams put together a solid group coming in for 2024.

“We’re really excited about the incoming freshmen,” Calvo said. “I’ll be going full head of steam on going and finding future Stallions that want to make ABAC their home.”

Calvo did not have to travel in picking up several of his incoming freshmen; four are coming in from Class 7A state champion Lowndes. Cooper Melvin, Cooper Scruggs, Luke Register and Caleb Thornton all signed with ABAC in May.

The transition to NAIA baseball puts them in the strange position of competing against their GCAA opponents while potentially recruiting from them.

“That will be a really interesting process for us,” said Calvo, adding that the GCAA has many outstanding athletes. “The junior college player is something that I value in bringing those guys into our program.”

As for the current members of ABAC rosters, Calvo said they have a solid foundation. He credits Williams with the team chemistry. “I learned a lot from him for having a good culture, and how important that camaraderie and culture is in a college baseball program,” he said. “That’ll be a big priority for me, making sure this group is a tight-knit group, playing hard, playing together and playing for each other.”

Calvo is still putting together his staff. Ben Griffis will return as a student assistant. “He bleeds green and gold,” he said. Calvo is taking applications for assistant coaches and has been talking to candidates.