RADFORD -- Former Radford University pitcher Ryan Speier will be realizing a dream when the Colorado Rockies battle the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Speier, 28, pitched for RU from 1998 to 2001.

“When I was in high school,” Speier told the Roanoke Times, “I didn’t expect I would play in college. In college, I didn’t expect to play in the pros. Once I was in the pros, I didn’t expect to play in the big leagues. It was a dream, but it was a distant one. The World Series? That’s unbelievable.” (See story in Tuesday's Roanoke Times.)

The 6-foot ,7-inch, right-handed reliever has played a key role in the Rockies’ current hot streak of winning 21 of 22 games. Speier posted a 3-0 record with a 2.79 earned run average in a dozen September appearances.  He struck out the only batter he faced in the playoff win over San Diego that propelled the Rockies into the postseason, where they won three straight over Philadelphia and swept Arizona in four games. Speier had a save in the Arizona series.

Speier, who missed all of the 2006 season with a torn labrum, is the first player from RU to play in the major league baseball playoffs.

His major league debut on opening day 2005 was a memorable one. He earned the win with two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief against the Padres and became only the fourth pitcher since 1960 to win on opening day while making his major league debut.

“It was my first game,” Speier said in a 2005 RU Magazine alumni profile. “It was a sell-out crowd. We got a walk-off home run. I don’t know how you can beat that.”

Speier left Radford after his junior year to pursue a professional career. Signed by the Rockies as an amateur free agent in 2001, he progressed quickly through the Rockies’ minor league system, including a stint with the Salem Avalanche. In 2004 with the Tulsa Drillers, he set a Rockies’ organizational record with 37 saves and won the Rolaids Relief Man Award for all of minor league baseball.

(For more photos of Speier, see Yahoo Sports photo spread.)