University of Hawaii pitcher Carter Loewen today reached an agreement on a free-agent contract with the San Diego Padres.

“It’s been honestly a dream come true,” said Loewen, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound right-hander from Vancouver, British Columbia. “I remember thinking this morning it’s Christmas Day for me.”

Loewen was not selected in the five rounds of this past week’s Major League Baseball Draft for First-Year Players. Teams were not allowed to make official offers until 3 a.m. today (6 a.m. in Vancouver).

“I slept with my phone ringer on,” Loewen said. “I got woken up at 6:02 by a call. It kind of took off from there. After that, I had to make a decision of who I wanted to go with. My gut was telling me San Diego. The way they presented the team to me and the plan they had for ;me just made me feel really good. It made my gut feel good about going with them.”

Loewen has fully recovered from ailments that required surgery to his pitching arm in 2016. He redshirted as a freshman in 2017, pitched in one game in 2018, and made 10 relief appearances in 2019. In the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season, Loewen did not allow a run in six of seven appearances. He earned a save in a road game against second-ranked Vanderbilt. His velocity topped at 95 mph during the season.