University of Hawaii baseball pitcher Carter Loewen woke up to a dream.

On the first day Major League Baseball teams could make offers to undrafted players, Loewen reached an agreement with the San Diego Padres. He is believed to have been offered the maximum $20,000 signing bonus for an eligible player not selected in the five rounds of last week’s MLB Draft for First-Year Players.

“It’s been honestly a dream come true,” said Loewen, who was a fourth-year junior for the Rainbow Warriors during the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season. “I remember thinking this morning it’s Christmas Day for me.”

Teams were allowed to evaluate and converse with prospects but not make any offers to undrafted players until Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern time (6 a.m. in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Loewen lives).

“I slept with my phone ringer on,” Loewen said. “I got woken up at 6:02 by a call. After that, it kind of took off from there.”

Two teams made pitches before the Padres called.

“I was kind of waiting for the Padres,” Loewen said. “Once I got that call, I let them know, ‘I’m most interested in going with you guys.’ They got the ball rolling.”

In advance of the draft, Loewen had video meetings with scouting directors and pitching coordinators from the Padres’ organization.

“That’s what made me feel really good about them,” Loewen said. “They had a plan laid out for me, all the things the pitchers do.”

Because of the pandemic, the NCAA is allowing spring-sport players to carry over this year’s class standing to next year. That meant Loewen had the option of returning to UH and playing as a fifth-year junior in 2021. While another season would increase his bank account — next year’s draft is expected to go up to 20 rounds — he said it was time to begin his professional career.

“I’m 21 years old,” Loewen said, “I think now’s the time to get my career going. I’m really excited to get going.”

UH coach Mike Trapasso said: “We couldn’t be happier for him. We would have loved to have had him back, but his is a different situation than a high school player’s. He’s been here for four years, he’s graduated — and that’s the important thing — and the adversity he’s gone through and the way he’s persevered, it was the right time for him to go and take the opportunity. He’s a great story.”

During his first UH semester, in 2016, an MRI showed problems in his right (pitching) shoulder to his labrum, rotator cuff and posterior capsule. After undergoing surgery, he redshirted as a freshman in 2017, pitched in one game in 2018, and made 10 relief appearances in 2019.

Loewen, who is 6 feet 4 and 230 pounds, then perfected a cutter, a 90-mph pitch that would go straight for 45 feet, then break sharply. This past season, he matched the cutter with a four-seam fastball that peaked at 95 mph. Loewen did not allow a run in six of seven appearances. He earned a save in a road victory against second-ranked Vanderbilt.

“He might be the best story in college baseball,” Trapasso said. “Had the year played out, and it was the normal (40-round) draft, he had a chance to be drafted in the first 10 rounds. And yet he still ends up getting an opportunity. This kid has been through so much adversity in four years. I told him, ‘you’ve turned four years of frustration completely around in four weeks.’ He had a four-week stretch in our 17 games where he was absolutely incredible. Don’t sleep on this kid. I can see him pitching in the big leagues because of his work ethic and how badly he wants it.”