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There came a time last spring when Dan DeLucia was handed an unexpected opportunity.

Ohio State baseball coach Bob Todd came to the sophomore pitcher halfway through the season and told him he would take the No. 1 spot in the rotation.

The surprise was obvious since DeLucia, the standout 6-foot-4 left-hander from Watterson High School, didn't have a strong reputation at the end of his freshman season. He had battled a sore arm and inconsistency.

Along with that, two veterans were expected to keep the top spots in the rotation.

"Going into the season, I figured I'd be the third or fourth starter," DeLucia said. "But when I got that spot, I wasn't about to give it up. There was some pressure, but I tried to put that in the back of my mind and try to have fun with it because, obviously, that No.1 spot is pretty special."

The result proved to be special for the Buckeyes, who -- with the help of DeLucia -- took the Big Ten tournament in upset fashion and earned a berth in the NCAA regionals.

"We came in as (the fifth seed), but we had a lot of confidence going in," DeLucia said. "We really peaked out at the end of the season and competed with some good teams like Oregon State in the regionals."

DeLucia finished 6-5 with a team-best 2.92 ERA among the starters and also led the team in innings pitched (95.2) and strikeouts (55).

The Buckeyes closed the season 40-20 overall and 17-12 in the Big Ten following a 7-1 loss to St. John's on June 5 in the regionals in Corvallis, Ore.

These days, you will find DeLucia in a different uniform as a member of the Delaware Cows in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.

He played with Grand Lake last summer and gives the wooden bat league a lot of credit for the turnaround in his college career.

DeLucia, who sat out two weeks to heal a bout of tendinitis, has been on a strict pitch count with the Cows, but his routine hasn't suffered much.

Before July 13, he was 1-1 with a save in 19 innings and carried a 1.89 ERA with 15 strikeouts.

DeLucia's focus for the summer has been perfecting his curve and change-up to go along with a fastball which features plenty of movement.

"He pounds the strike zone and he's very, very aggressive, a bulldog," Delaware pitching coach Dave Koblentz said.

"He has tremendous mound presence, a tremendous makeup and he's a left-hander. This is going to be a very draftable, excellent young man. There's no question about it."

As a senior at Watterson, DeLucia received scholarship offers from both Division I football and baseball programs, but he felt his chances of becoming a professional athlete were better on the mound.

He was a three-sport athlete who helped lead the Golden Eagles to a Division II state football championship in 2003 and a district title in basketball with a win over rival DeSales.

DeLucia said choosing baseball over football was one of the toughest decisions he has had to make in his young life. His football scholarship offers came mainly from schools in the Mid-American Conference.

Even when Todd came to him just a month before graduating from Watterson, DeLucia took some time to commit because football wasn't out of the question.

'I just think talking with people and looking ahead, there was a better opportunity for me there to take to the next level," DeLucia said.