Mundelein graduate Daniel Pacella follows the flight of his home run that gave Illinois State a 4-3 win over Indiana State on April 19 in Normal, the Redbirds’ first walk-off win on a home run in 14 years.
Courtesy of Dennis Banks/ISU Athletics
It might be, it could be, it was …
Illinois State University sophomore outfielder Daniel Pacella (Mundelein High School) did something not seen there in 14 years. In an April 19 game in Normal against Indiana State, the score tied 3-3 and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, on a 1-2 count the big left-hander hammered a curveball for a solo home run to give Illinois State its first walk-off win on a home run since 2010.
After 37 games Pacella was hitting .359 with 13 doubles, 8 home runs, 47 RBI, a .463 on-base percentage and a .620 slugging percentage. In 2023, Pacella set Illinois State’s freshman RBI record with 56 and tied its freshman home run record with 16. Those marks were set 39 years ago by Maine West graduate Frank Mustari, who played in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization and later became a Chicago 16-inch softball hall of famer.
Mundelein graduate Daniel Pacella, a sophomore outfielder at Illinois State, comes around to score the winning run on his solo home run April 19 in Normal, a 4-3 win over Indiana State. Redbirds third base coach Tony Jandron joins the celebration.
Courtesy of Dennis Banks/ISU Athletics
Illinois junior tennis player Megan Heuser (Lakes) was named to the Big Ten All-Conference team. The 2019 Class 1A singles champion, Heuser played at both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles for the Illini. Entering Thursday’s Big Ten Tournament at Rutgers, Heuser was 15-14 in doubles play and 9-12 in singles.
Last week we noted that Illinois Wesleyan basketball player Lauren Huber of Glenbard East earned second-team NCAA Division III Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators.
We missed Peter Lambesis (St. Viator). A graduate student at Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, the 6-foot-5 Illinois Wesleyan transfer earned third-team Division II honors with a 3.88 grade-point average in graduate studies in entrepreneurship and innovation. He’s a student mentor, has been invited to this spring’s Athletes in Action Captains Academy Leadership Conference, and is starting a mobile application business on “social fitness.”
Lambesis averaged 12.9 points and 8.3 rebounds this season. He helped Trevecca go from the lowest-scoring Division II team in 2022-23 to the second-best scoring team in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, and from 2 wins last season to 16 this one.
Lambesis came to St. Viator from Mt. Prospect. University of Illinois fifth-year senior golfer Timmy Crawford (St. Viator) hails from Arlington Heights. Competing as an individual at the Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate, Crawford finished in a tie for fifth place. A graduate transfer, Crawford last year set Loyola-Chicago’s record for season scoring average at 71.5 — like he did as a senior at St. Viator, at 71.8.
On April at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Maryland, Indiana University won the Big Ten women’s golf title for the first time since 1998. Redshirt junior Caroline Smith (Barrington) tied for fourth individually at 5-under par. Her 14 birdies were the second-most in the tournament, and Smith’s third round of 67 tied for the fifth-lowest round in Indiana women’s history and the second-lowest round by a Hoosier in the Big Ten Championship.