As the Ohio State Buckeyes’ regular season came to an end, Cory Luebke’s lone dilemma was whether or not he’d get to pitch in the postseason. Now, after three weeks, a trio of dynamic pitching performances, a Big 10 Championship, and a handful of individual accolades later, the Big 10 Pitcher of the Year faces a much bigger challenge.

The Buckeyes ace was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the supplemental first round (63rd pick overall) of Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft.  

“I was ecstatic,” Luebke said of his reaction to getting drafted early in the draft. “It’s always been a dream to try and continue my career. Going into the year, I never thought I’d be able to put a year together like I had; things set up great, and it was a nice way to cap the season.”

Luebke hasn’t officially made his decision on his immediate future, but admitted it would be difficult for him to stay at the collegiate level for another year.

“With where they took me, it’s going to be pretty hard for me to return to Ohio State,” Luebke said. “I had a great three years here and there are a lot of guys here I’m going to miss, but I’ve always had the dream to get to play on a big-league field, and I’m probably going to have to go with it.”

If the 2007 season was Luebke’s final one at Ohio State, it was quite a way to go out. After returning to the Buckeyes following being drafted by Texas in the 22nd round of the 2006 MLB Draft, Luebke established himself as the Big Ten’s most dominant pitcher.

Finding a defining moment in Luebke’s junior year would be near impossible. Any of his late-season starts would draw the envy of nearly any collegiate pitcher.

Luebke pitched a gem in the Big 10 Tournament opener for the then-struggling Buckeyes — the lowest seeded team in the bracket — and then bookended that performance by posting another quality start in the Tournament Championship game. The Buckeyes won the title and both games he started, which spurred Luebke to the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player honors after allowing just two runs in 14.2 innings. That award came at the heels of Luebke being announced the Big 10 Pitcher of the Year at the beginning of the tournament.

“It was an honor knowing that the coaches unanimously felt that way about me, and it just showed that all of my hard work paid off,” Luebke said of the awards.

But his most inspiring outing might have been what very well could be his final one as a Buckeye. Though the box score doesn’t scream sensational (8 hits and 5 runs allowed), Luebke’s appearance in the Regionals against Le Moyne showed his worth to his squad. The 6-4 lefty pitched all 10 innings in the elimination game, and after a relatively rocky start, pitched six scoreless innings to close the game and extend the Buckeyes’ season.

“It was a great feeling to pull that out and keep the season alive,” Luebke said. “I started out and didn’t have my best stuff, it wasn’t my best outing, but I was able to keep them off the board for the last six innings and the hitters picked me up.”

Though Ohio State’s season ended the next day against top-seeded Texas A&M, 2007 marked an incredible year for Luebke and his transformation from good to great, despite the team’s roller-coaster performance during the season.

“Obviously there were points in the season where it got a little frustrating, but you can only control so much,” Luebke said. “We knew if we got into the tournament we could go with our big three and it would give us an opportunity to advance.”

Along with the opportunity to advance, Luebke also got the opportunity to display his skills on a big stage. And after making the best of that, the Ohio native now looks to be ready for an even bigger stage: the major leagues.