Outfielder Ty Dalley may return to the Mercer Bears for his fifth season of college baseball. College Baseball Central reporter Andrew Riedell first reported the news while attending Mercer's fall exhibition game against the Florida Gators on Sunday, November 1.

Dalley played in the exhibition game for Mercer, batting second in the lineup against the Gators. Riedell did report that Dalley is not on the Bears' active roster that is listed on the Mercer Athletics website.

The Vidalia Advance did report that Dalley won an early ruling in his legal battle for eligibility against the NCAA on October 28. Bibb County Superior Court Judge Jeffery Monroe granted Dalley a temporary restraining order (TRO), which allows him to play at Mercer during fall baseball activities.

That TRO will remain in effect until Dalley has a hearing for a preliminary injunction on December 14.

A final decision on Dalley being eligible has not been made yet.

Dalley's 2026 season with Clemson and his illustrious career at Mercer

The Vidalia, Georgia native spent the 2026 season of college baseball playing for the Clemson Tigers. He transferred to Clemson after he played three seasons at Mercer.

In his one season with Clemson, Dalley had a .233 batting average in 116 at-bats. He also hit two home runs for the Tigers and had 19 RBIs.

Before playing with the Tigers, Dalley put on a show in three seasons with the Mercer Bears from 2023 to 2025. In his career with Mercer, the outfielder had a .291 batting average with 58 home runs. He is Mercer's all-time home run leader.

Dalley also finished with 51 doubles and 188 RBIs in his three seasons with the Bears.

The potential fifth-year player earned some individual accolades while playing for Mercer. Dalley was first-team All-Southern Conference (SOCON) in 2024. He was also a part of the SOCON All-Freshman team in 2023.

Dalley showed he was a postseason performer as he was named to the All-SOCON Tournament team in both 2023 and 2024.

Up next for Mercer

The Mercer Bears are coming off a huge 2026 season where they finished 44-15 overall and were 15-6 in conference play. The Bears won the SOCON regular season title for the first time since 2017.

After their fall exhibition game against Florida on Sunday, the Bears have one more fall exhibition game on their plate. They will play the USC Upstate Spartans on Saturday, November 7. That exhibition game will be at Harley Park, the home of USC Upstate baseball in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

For more NCAA news: https://worldbaseball.com/news/category/ncaa