Mercer baseball opens the season at home on Friday, Feb. 13, hosting Troy University at OrthoGeorgia Park with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. The three-game series against the Trojans will continue throughout the weekend with games on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Bears enter the 2026 season under the steady leadership of Head Coach Craig Gibson, who is in his 22nd year at the helm of the program. Gibson brings a wealth of experience to the dugout, owning a 728-504 career record. He has also coached 34 players who have gone on to be selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, including three who signed with MLB franchises last summer. Gibson has also led the Bears to three conference tournament championships and four regular season conference championships.
Alongside Gibson's veteran leadership, Mercer also welcomed new pitching coach Kade McClure this season. McClure will hope to bolster an already-strong Bears rotation that boasted the second-lowest ERA and WHIP in the Southern Conference last year.
Multiple preseason honors were awarded to the Bears, signaling strong expectations heading into the new year. Mercer had four players earn Perfect Game Preseason All-Conference recognition, an accolade that highlights the top projected collegiate baseball players across each conference. Three Bears — Collin Ewaldsen '28, Logan Shepherd '27 and Kai Decker '28 — were named to Perfect Game’s Preseason All-SoCon Team.
Shepherd joined Mercer after a sophomore season at Tacoma Community College, in which he was named the Northwest Athletic Conference Position Player of the Year, appeared in all 48 games and led the Titans with a .392 batting average.
Last season, the Bears finished with a 35-25 overall record and posted a 12-9 mark in SoCon play. The campaign featured notable moments, including a 4-2 victory over The Citadel before Mercer fell to Samford University in the postseason. The 35 wins during the 2025 season were the program’s most in a single year since 2022.
This season, the Bears will hope to rely on their promising signees and keep up regular season momentum for end-of-season conference play. The team struggled with postseason conference consistency last year, wasting strong overall pitching performances with some mistakes on the mound. The Bears gave up the most home runs of the tournament and had crucial error-filled innings in their season-ending loss to the Bulldogs.
The Bears also lost a few star players in the offseason, notably Bradley Frye '25, who was drafted to the San Diego Padres, and Ty Dalley '26, who transferred to Clemson University. Frye was an essential part of the Bears' offense, leading the team in OPS, while Dalley was a two-time SoCon All-Tournament Team nominee and provided a strong defensive presence.
As the season progresses, Mercer will be tested by a challenging schedule that includes road matchups against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents Georgia Tech and Florida State University. The Bears will kick off conference play on March 20 against The Citadel, and they will begin the SoCon Tournament on May 20.
