Tristan Peters will play Division l baseball this fall in Carbondale, Illinois.

The 20-year-old Winkler product, who batted .396 with 12 home runs and 44 rbi in the summer of 2019 with Okotoks and helped the Dawgs capture the Western Canadian Baseball League championship, has committed to play for the Southern Illinois Salukis.

Peters received a Dl offer from New Mexico last summer and this fall also heard from a number of other programs including his top three, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Louisiana Munroe and Southern Illinois.

Peters, who is wrapping up his second and final year at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona, took a couple of days to consider his options and decided on the Salukis who play ball in the Missouri Valley Conference.

“They were in the sixth best Division l conference in the nation,” Peters told Golden West’s Tyler Hildebrand in a telephone interview. “Last year they didn’t have a great year but they got a whole new coaching staff and they’re recruiting junior college kids really hard and I think they’re going to be extremely good next year.”

“I like the coaching staff a lot,” Peters added. “Their philosophy, especially the hitting coach, is very similar to the one that we have here. They are huge on video and I absolutely love that. They got this crazy program where you can see literally every single pitch that you’ve seen or any of your teammates. That was really cool, They have really nice facilities and the campus is really nice.”

The two-time Baseball Manitoba Player of the Year (13U in 2013 & 15U in 2015) is currently batting .345 in 17 games with the Coyotes in his second season in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference

“I love it here in Arizona,” Peters said. “I’m just so glad I chose to come here. Having a great year on top of that in 2019 really helped and then going to summer ball too with the Dawgs and winning a championship, that was a lot of fun.”

“The biggest thing was coming to Chandler-Gilbert. We’re in one of the top three conference’s in the United States. They get a lot of attention. We’re a wooden bat conference too and my numbers were really good last year which helped a lot. We also had an All-Star game in the fall that a lot of scouts come to. I didn’t do great in it. Defensively I did but hitting wise I didn’t. There’s a lot of opportunity to be seen here and that was probably the best decision of my life to come here to Arizona.”

Peters says the benefits of playing Division l ball are huge.

“It gives me a good chance at pro ball again. I’ve already got a pretty decent chance this year. It’s just cool to say that I’ve committed to Dl and I’m going to play Division l Baseball.”

Peters is also eligible for the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft which takes place June 10th-12th.

“I’m just kind of going with the flow and see what happens,” said Peters. “If I have a great year then I think there’s a really good chance I can get drafted. There’s so many factors I would have to take in to see if I sign.”

Twenty-four Saluki baseball alumni have gone on to the Major Leagues.

Tristan Peters will be working hard to join that prestigious group when he starts his Division l career at Southern Illinois this fall.