Derik Olvey  •  RHP  •  Notre Dame •  Sophomore

Tremendous competitor who earned high school All-America honors after stellar career at Pelham High School ... a fairly polished pitcher, known for his mound presence and a fastball that has touched low-90s ... opted to join the Irish program, despite being a 13th-round draft selection of the Los Angeles Dodgers ... prototypical power pitcher, with husky 6-2, 205-pound frame and a hard, heavy fastball that bores into righthanded hitters ... also throws a good curveball and changeup, with excellent all-around location ... rated by Baseball America as nation's No. 22 prospect among college freshmen (9th RHP on that list) ... brings a give-me-the-ball, bulldog mentality to the mound ... Perfect Game/Baseball America (Oct. '03) ranked him as the No. 58 prep prospect in 2003 (32nd pitcher; No. 1 overall in Alabama) while Team One Baseball rated him 86th overall ... also the No. 22 freshman prospect in Baseball America college preview ... had a strong 2003 fall and winter season, making adjustments to maximize his frame and getting more depth on his breaking ball ... also looking to finetune his pitching tactics to produce more groundballs ... suffered loss in second game of Blue-Gold fall intrasquad series (4 IP, 9 H, 7 R/6 ER, 2 BB), with the Blue winning 13-10 ... excellent student who posted 3.27 GPA in 2003 fall semester ... could become the second letterwinner from Alabama in Notre Dame baseball history (and first since lefthanded pitching ace Herb Kelly of Mobile, '12-'14) ... inherits No. 20 jersey worn previous three seasons by righthander Peter Ogilvie ... others who have worn 20 include current Houston Astros righthanded reliever Brad Lidge ('96-'98).

PREP & PERSONAL: Earned All-America honors after dominating 2003 senior season at Pelham High School that included 1.49 ERA, 9-1 record, 93 Ks, 11 walks and 36 hits allowed in 70.2 innings (8.5 K-to-walk ratio, with 9-inning averages of 11.9 Ks, 1.4 BB, 4.6 H) ... led '03 squad to No. 3 national ranking ... his combined stats in final two prep seasons included a 1.16 seven-inning ERA (1.49 for 9 innings) and 18-3 record, plus an eye-popping 11.6 K-to-walk ratio (9-inning averages of 13.5 Ks, 1.2 BB, 5.1 H) ... named all-city, all-state and academic all-state as a junior in 2002, with 0.82 ERA, 9-2 record and 116 Ks (68.1 IP, 15.3 Ks per 9 IP) ... went 8-3 with a 0.68 ERA as a sophomore in '01, earning honorable mention all-state and first of three all-metro honors Š rated 18th-best pro prospect at East Coast Showcase (Wilmington, N.C.) ... pitched with Bama Bombers in summer of '02, logging impressive sting vs. team from Ontario at tournament in Jupiter, Fla. (7 IP, 15 Ks, 1 BB, 3 H) ... member of National Honor Society ... ranked third in his high school class with a 4.2 grade-point-average ... made official visit to Notre Dame during 2002 Notre Dame-Stanford football weekend (hosted by player Javi Sanchez) ... born Oct. 27, 1984, in Birmingham, Ala. ... son of David and Karen Olvey ... full name is Derik Layne Olvey ... enrolled in First Year of Studies ... intends to major in finance.