Cathedral High School junior pitcher Dillon Peters followed the University of Texas baseball team growing up but knew the program seldom needed to recruit outside the state — let alone bring in a player from Indiana — so he didn’t expect to get the chance to play there.

But the Longhorns started recruiting Peters midway through last season and, after several campus visits, the left-hander was offered a scholarship and committed late last month.

“(The baseball players) were treated differently than everybody else,” said Peters, who was also considering Vanderbilt and Arizona. “It’s not like football was the main sport like at other (major universities). Baseball is up there with everybody else and you have a chance to win (the national championship) every year.”

Texas is one of college baseball’s premier programs, playing in the College World Series 32 times and winning national championships in 1949, ’50, ’75, ’83, 2002 and ’05.

Peters, a Fishers resident, was 7-0 with a 0.46 ERA and struck out 78 in 451/3 innings as a freshman for the Irish, then went 10-1 with a 0.99 ERA and 112 strikeouts last season. He was recruited as a pitcher but is also one of Cathedral’s top hitters, batting .495 with 10 doubles, four home runs and 33 RBIs last season.

“We’ll wait and see,” Peters said when asked about potentially being selected in the major league draft after his senior year of high school. “I’ll do whatever the best opportunity is, (but) right now, Texas is where it’s at.”