Former Southeast Missouri State baseball standout making his way in St. Louis Cardinals system

Derek Gibson remembers that moment nearly two and a half years ago when a phone number with a 314 area code popped up on his phone as he walked out of a meeting with the Chicago White Sox.

He couldn't imagine who could be calling so early in the morning, but when he answered it was someone in charge of player development with the St. Louis Cardinals, giving him his shot at playing professional baseball.

Gibson, who had just completed an impressive senior season at Southeast Missouri State, had dropped off a resume with his baseball accomplishments at the Cardinals offices about a week before and then had made a trek to visit the offices of the White Sox, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee.

That call from the Cardinals, the team the Bonne Terre, Missouri, native had grown up cheering for, came at a time when he'd nearly decided it was time to head home and move on with his life.

Former Southeast Missouri State star and All-American Derek Gibson celebrates with teammates

"I thought, 'Oh my Lord, here we go.' It was my shot. It was what I had dreamed of," Gibson said. "And to be honest with you it was almost to the point where I really thought that it was impossible and I just really, really didn't think that it was going to happen."

He traveled the 5 1/2 hours home, packed up and said his goodbyes before leaving at 5 a.m. the next morning. He played his first professional game in Florida later that day to cap an emotional month.

The Redhawks had clinched the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title on May 9 before the stellar season came to a devastating end in the OVC tournament on May 24.

Gibson went undrafted in the MLB Draft on June 8 before being named a first-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association three days later and signing with the Cardinals a week after that.

"It was like an emotional roller coaster with like three loops," Gibson said. "It was unbelievable."

He credits coach Steve Bieser and the Southeast baseball program for preparing him for the professional level. Gibson believes that the way Bieser runs his program, and led the team to back to back OVC championships, is "absolutely a mirror image" of how the Cardinals' organization is run and the "Cardinal Way."

"It's not that we're saying we're better than everybody else," Gibson said. "It's just to hold ourselves to a really high standard of character and discipline, and being a good teammate and just being a good person. [Cardinals manager] Mike Matheny, he always talks about being a good person and that's No. 1. Baseball is after that.

"I think the SEMO baseball program taught me more about life and being a man and really growing up and coming into my own. Coach Bieser has done such a good job in winning down there, and that coaching staff has won baseball games, but I think the thing that's overlooked a lot with that program is that those coaches develop us into young men, and I think that's the most important thing. ... It's a very special thing to be apart of and it's something that I'll never forget. I'll always be a part of that program and it's something that we all take pride in."

Gibson has spent two seasons in the Cardinals' minor league system. He was moved up to their Double-A Springfield (Mo.) team for 12 games last year before going back to the Class A Advanced Palm Beach Cardinals and then moving to the Class A Peoria Chiefs. The outfielder hit .297 with 11 doubles, a triple and 15 RBIs last season.