Baseball: Streamwood’s Dalton Lundeen commits to Valparaiso

Updated: May 2, 2012 9:50PM

Dalton Lundeen will go from being a three-sport athlete at Streamwood to being a one-sport specialist at Valparaiso.

Lundeen committed to play Division I baseball with the Indiana school last week. The standout left-handed pitcher will be a preferred walk-on with the Crusaders after landing an academic scholarship that will cover almost all of his tuition.

“The coach is really good there and he was telling me they don’t look at guys as preferred walk-ons,” Lundeen said. “They have four starters now who were preferred walk-ons their freshman year.”

That opportunity to contribute combined with Valparaiso’s status as an up-and-coming program were major selling points for Lundeen. The Crusaders own a 23-20 record under sixth-year coach Tracy Woodson and are in second place in the Horizon League with a 15-6 conference record.

Lundeen owns a 4-3 record this spring to go along with a 3.65 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 48 innings. As a junior last season he played a key role in helping Streamwood claim its first conference, regional and sectional titles by going 7-2 with a 2.74 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 61 1/3 innings.

In addition to his exploits on the baseball field, Lundeen spent three years as the starting quarterback for the Sabres and also played basketball at Streamwood.

“I think when Dalton gets to college and focuses strictly on baseball he’s going to get a whole lot better,” Streamwood baseball coach Steve Diversey said. “This is really exciting for him.”

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