Middle-of-the-Order Ready: Pacella poised to make immediate impact for Rebels

Clemson’s Tristan Bissetta is ticketed to start in an outfield corner for Ole Miss baseball next season. 

The other corner is reserved for Illinois State’s Daniel Pacella, who Ole Miss landed in June over LSU, Mississippi State and others. 

Pacella last season was a first-team All-MVC selection. He started all 56 games in left field for the Redbirds and totaled 59 RBI, the seventh-most in a single season in program history. 

Pacella led the team with a .355 batting average.

“He’s a big one that we had to fight all the heavy hitters in our league to get,” Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement said this week in a sit-down with the Ole Miss Spirit. “Certainly having [Luke] Cheng and them having a relationship, I’m sure, helped with that. Luke talked to him about how great it was here and the fan base and all that.

“We’ll have to battle the draft with him, but we’re really excited about him and think he’s a guy who slots in right in the middle of the order. Has like 50 career home runs and has been incredibly consistent from the time he stepped on campus up there to now. His numbers have held.”

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Cheng was signed out of Illinois State last off-season and emerged as the Rebels’ primary shortstop. 

Pacella had 41 extra-base hits, including 20 home runs, the second-most in a single season for a Redbird. He finished second all-time at Illinois State in career home runs (45) and RBI (169). He was a back-to-back all-conference honoree.

Pacella, depending on the outcome of the MLB Draft, likely steps in for Ryan Moreman, a one-year transfer from Illinois. Moerman was a middle-of-the-order regular for the Rebels. 

Ole Miss won 43 games last season and hosted a Regional for the first time since 2021. The Rebels fell just one game short of their first Super Regional in Oxford since 2009.

“You get some of these guys who, to their credit, develop and start off slow and have down freshman years and then get better,” Clement said. “This guy has produced for three straight years. Really special. Comes from the same hometown as Cooper Johnson, former [Ole Miss] catcher. Mundelein, Illinois, right outside of Chicago. He’s got a little bit of that Chicago toughness to him. I like everything about him. He’s got a chance to be a really good one.”

Ole Miss has so far landed four transfers out of the portal.

Ole Miss is losing all three members of its starting outfield, which was made up entirely of first-year transfers in Moerman, Isaac Humphrey (Louisville) and Mitch Sanford (UNO). The Rebels have had six portal departures, but catcher Campbell Smithwick was the only player the Rebels attempted to retain. 

The Rebels are on commitment watch for San Diego St. right-handed pitcher Marko Sipila. He pitched to a 3.91 ERA over 71.1 innings last season.

Ole Miss would like to add at least 2-4 more pitchers and an infielder. The Rebels had LSU freshman Mikey Ryan for a visit last week. They also have interest in Arizona State infielder Jax Ryan. Ryan slashed .281/.377/.371 in 2025.

“It’s been really good,” Clement said of portal recruiting to this point. “What helps is we won 43 games and not 30. The energy around the program is back, or at least headed back, to where we expect it to be. That certainly helps in recruiting.

“I think we feel we have a pretty solid chance to get a good baseline and core back from last year’s team. So, a little bit different from the chaos of last season, where you felt you were building it a little more from the ground floor. We’re in a better spot with what we feel like we have.”