LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Marty Popham's career at Union College is now complete as the Cleveland Indians selected the junior pitcher in the 20th round of the 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Friday.

After not being selected during the first six rounds Thursday, Popham (Louisville, Ky.) had to wait until nearly 2 p.m. Friday to find out if he was going.

"It's amazing," the right-hander said. "I've been waiting for this day. Longest two days of my life."

Popham is the third player in Union program history to be drafted, and his 20th-round selection matches the earliest round a Bulldog has gone. In 2002, the Kansas City Royals picked Nate Zettler as the 588th overall selection in the 20th round. The Toronto Blue Jays drafted Joaquin "Kike" Canizal in the 31st round (920th overall pick) in 2003.

Popham was the 621st overall selection.

"I'm happy for Marty for all the hard work he's put in," said Union coach Bart Osborne. "His goal was to get drafted, and he did that. Now, his goal is to make it to the big leagues, and I'm confident he'll put in the work to do that."

The 2008 season was one for the record books as Popham put together arguably the best season of any Bulldog to ever take the mound. He led the NAIA in wins with a 17-1 overall record. The right-hander posted a 2.27 earned-run average and set seven single-season records. The marks Popham set were for wins (17), games started (18), complete games (12), shutouts (3), innings pitched (123.0), strikeouts (133) and winning percentage (.944 with a 17-1 record).

In addition to the single-season records, Popham also holds the career marks for shutouts (4) and winning percentage (.852 with a 23-4 record).

Popham racked up the accolades in 2008 as well, earning NAIA All-American First Team, All-NAIA Region XII First Team, All-Appalachian Athletic Conference First Team and AAC Pitcher of the Year honors.

"The kid deserves this," Osborne added. "He was 17-1 and beat some of the top teams in the country.

"(Assistant) coach (Adam) Hines put in a lot of work with Marty over the past two years and helped him really develop. And I'm looking forward to see how much more Marty develops in the coming years."

While he always had the dream of being drafted, Popham admitted he wasn't sure he had what it takes to play professionally until he got to Union.

"I had a lot of time to focus on baseball and baseball alone (while at Union)," said Popham, who transferred to Union after playing at Spalding (Ky.) University his freshman season. "It helped me out a lot because after starting out in college, I didn't think I had the talent play pro ball. But during my time at Union, I was able to see what I was capable of thanks in part to the excellent coaching staff."

While he has not received his first assignment yet, Popham will likely be assigned to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, Cleveland's short-season Class A affiliate in the New York-Penn League.

Union made its first-ever appearance in the NAIA World Series, finishing tied for fifth. The Bulldogs matched the program record for wins in going 48-18 overall. Union placed second in the Appalachian Athletic Conference during the regular season and tournament but won the NAIA Region XII Tournament and NAIA South Central Super Regional.