SAN DIEGO – Former Saint Xavier University baseball standout Luke Gregerson (Park Ridge, Ill./Morton) recently signed a new, one-year deal with the San Diego Padres worth $1.55 million to avoid arbitration heading into the 2012 Major League Baseball (MLB) season.  Gregerson was one of nine Padres to sign a contract before last week's arbitration deadline.  Heading into his fourth season with both the Padres and MLB, Gregerson has had an impressive start to his professional career as a reliever.  He has a career ERA of 3.10 and totals of 216 strikeouts, 68 walks and 83 holds over 209.0 innings pitched.  In 2010, Gregerson set the MLB record for most holds in a season with 40.

CHICAGO –Tyler Peper, a centerfielder out of New Palestine High School in New Palestine, Ind., has recently signed a letter of intent to continue both his athletic and academic career at Saint Xavier University as a member of the Cougar baseball program. As a senior at New Palestine, Peper hit .392 with 22 runs scored, 23 walks and an on-base percentage of .534.  The speedster also was a threat on the base paths stealing 19 bases out of 23 attempts.  Peper played under Al Cooper at New Palestine, who coached his final season with the Dragons this past spring, and will now join former high school teammate David Gunst, who signed with the Cougars earlier this summer. 

Lewiston, Idaho - Senior third baseman Matt Erickson (Oak Lawn, Ill./Richards) was named a 2011 Daktronics-NAIA Baseball Scholar-Athlete for the spring season when the honors were released by the NAIA national office Thursday in conjunction with the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. In order to be nominated by an institution's head coach, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status to qualify for this honor. Erickson was one of just 228 NAIA baseball scholar-athletes in the nation to meet the criteria and earn the prestigious honor.