#35 David Phelps Baseball Roster

Returning staff ace who fashioned a breakthroughseason in 2007, when he became thesecond Notre Dame pitcher ever to post 100-plus strikeouts (102) and register an ERAunder 2.00 (1.88) in the same season (currentbig-leaguer Aaron Heilman is the other)… named to the 2008 preseason watch listfor the Brooks Wallace national Player of theYear award … also picked to repeat as a firstteam all-BIG EAST performer in [apos]08 …entered his sophomore season with buddingconfidence, after a strong 2006 fall seasonthat saw him make steady progress whileworking with Irish pitching coach SherardClinkscales … his key strides from his freshmanto sophomore season included consistentlyfinishing off batters with his low-90sfastball and a breaking ball and change-upthat both were fine tuned for efficiency …bring a bulldog mentality to the mound inevery appearance … one of the hardestthrowers on the team who can spot hisexplosive fastball with movement onboth sides of the plate … could emergeas an Academic All-America candidate,due to his 3.24 cumulative grade-pointaverage that includes an impressive 3.50in-season GPA during the 2006 springsemester … was slated to pitch alongsidethree classmates and fellow pitchers(Kyle Weiland, Sam Elam and BrettGraffy) during the summer of 2007, withthe Cape Cod League[apos]s FalmouthCommodores … ultimately opted to resthis arm during the summer of [apos]07, aftermaking a pair of starts with Falmouth(7.27, 8.2 IP, 21 H, 5 BB, 5 Ks) … playedfor the Alaska League[apos]s Mat-Su Miners inthe summer of [apos]06, going 3-2 in sevenstarts, with a 3.02 ERA and 36 strikeoutsin 47.2 innings (23 walks, 32 hitsallowed/1 home run, 3 hit batters, 2 wildpitches, a pair of complete games, ashutout and a save) … has drawn game-1 starts in each of the past three Blue-Gold Series (fall intrasquad), withno-decisions in the first two games anda loss in [apos]07 (his career BGS stats includea 4.85 ERA, 13.0 IP, 12 R/8 ER, 13 H, 7 BB, 9 Ks)… lost game-1 in [apos]07 BGS, for Gold team thatwent on to win series (4.2 IP, 5 R/2 ER, 5 H, 2BB, HB, 2 Ks; 1-8) …had strong outing in [apos]06with Blue (5 IP, R, 3 H, BB, HB, 5 Ks) but Goldwon that 2-1 pitchers duel and went on towin the series … also started BGS opener in[apos]05 (3.1 IP, 6 R/5 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 2 Ks, HB, WP),with his Blue teammates rallying for 7-6 winand later taking the series … his olderbrother Mike Phelps pitches in the ChicagoCubs organization … joins former 1B/LHPJoe Thaman ([apos]04; St. Louis) as recentMissouri natives to monogram with a NotreDame baseball program that includes 14 alltimemonogram winners from the show-mestate … could face his former teammate JoeErcalano when the Irish play Lehigh in [apos]08season.

AS A SOPHOMORE: Bounced backfrom rocky freshman season by turning inone of the best seasons ever by a NotreDame pitcher in 2007 … named first team all-BIG EAST Conference while becoming thesecond Notre Dame pitcher ever to post 100-plus strikeouts (102) and an ERA under 2.00during the same season (1.88) … also earnedCoSIDA Academic All-District honors andadvanced to the Academic All-America ballot,after carrying a 3.36 cumulative GPA intothe 2007 season … joined former All-Americans Aaron Heilman (in [apos]99) and ChrisNiesel (in [apos]03) as youngest Notre Dame pitchersever named to BIG EAST[apos]s top team (eachearned the honor as sophomores) …Heilman is the only other Notre Damepitcher ever to reach 100 Ks while also havinga sub-2.00 ERA in the same season (111Ks, 1.74 ERA; as a senior in 2001) … enteredthe final month of the [apos]07 season up forpitcher-of-the-year honors, with Louisvillejunior Zack Pitts ultimately taking home thataward … finished [apos]07 season as league leaderin overall ERA (1.87; 14th in the nation) andstrikeouts (102; sixth in ND history) whileranking third among BIG EAST pitchers with110.1 innings, seventh in lowest opp. battingaverage (.236) and eighth in wins (8-5) …was one of only six pitchers in the nationwho entered [apos]07 postseason with an ERAunder 2.00, eight or more wins and 90-plusstrikeouts … in [apos]07 regular-season BIG EASTgames, he finished second in ERA (2.14, trailingonly Seton Hall[apos]s Keith Cantwell) plusfirst in strikeouts (67) and innings (71.1), secondin Ks looking (26) and pickoffs (4), thirdin wins (5-3) and 10th in lowest opp. batting(.242) … pitched well enough to win at least13 of his 15 starts … posted the 11th-bestseason ERA in the Notre Dame record bookand eighth-best of the aluminum-bat era(since early-[apos]80s) … led [apos]07 staff in ERA, wins,strikeouts, innings, starts (15; sixth in BIGEAST), Ks looking (42) and groundouts(119), also ranking third on staff in lowestopp. batting avg. … had 15 more inningspitched than hits allowed (96, six of themHRs) … finished with staff[apos]s second-best Kto-walk ratio (3.4; 102/30) … his nine-inningaverages included a team-best 7.1 inningsper start, 8.3 Ks (second on the team) and2.5 walks (third-lowest on staff), plus 7.8 hits… became the fifth different Notre Damepitcher ever to reach 100 strikeouts in a season… posted double-digit strikeouts threetimes during [apos]07 regular season and added 9-K game in the BIG EAST Tournament versusVillanova … totaled five complete gameswhile becoming third Notre Dame pitcherever to post four or more (4) nine-inningcomplete games in a season (Heilman hadfive and Danny Tamayo four, both in 2001) …allowed 0-2 earned runs in 13 of his 16 starts… unearned runs led to Irish losses in threeof his starts (vs. Texas State, Pitt andVillanova) … 12 of the runs charged to himwere unearned and the Irish offense averagedonly 5.4 runs/gm in his 16 starts … theonly Notre Dame pitchers to total more Ks ina season are Heilman (118 in [apos]99 and [apos]00; 111in [apos]01), Jeff Manship (111 in [apos]06) and Tamayo(106 in [apos]01) … held [apos]07 opposing batters to.212 batting with runners on base (secondbeston the staff) and was third on staff inopp. batting by lefthanded hitters (.243), RHhitters (.232) and in opp. leadoff on-base pct.(.336; 3 per 9 IP) … proved to be very strongat the start of games, compiling a 1.50 ERAwhile allowing only a .236 opp. batting avg. inthe 1st-4th innings (51 Ks/12 BB, 53 H in 60IP) … feasted on first look at opponent[apos]s bottomof the order, as he allowed only twoearned runs in the 2nd inning all season …had no-decision in opening week versusTexas State (5 IP, R, 6 H/solo HR, 2 BB, thencareer-high 7 Ks; 1-2 loss) … followed withpair of prime-time wins over #12 TCU (6 IP,UER, 5 H, BB, 5 Ks, 24 BF, 57 of 88 pitches forstrikes; 4-1, in Myrtle Beach, S.C.) and #7Nebraska (5 IP, 5 R/1 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, HB, 3 Ks,108 pitches; 16-6, at Stetson) … lost 3-0 pitchers[apos]duel with Sacred Heart[apos]s Jay Monti (thenational ERA leader), in Clearwater, Fla. (7 IP,3 R/1 ER, 6 H, BB, 6 Ks) … added springbreakwin over N.Y. Tech (7 IP, R, 5 H, 2 BB, 5Ks; 12-1, at Florida Gulf Coast) … won classic1-0 showdown with South Florida ace DannyOtero (9 IP, 3 H, BB, HB, 10 Ks, 78 of 115pitches for strikes) … became first NDpitcher since J.P. Gagne in 2001 (vs. BYU) totoss a 9-inning solo shutout … also was 10thdifferent ND pitcher since [apos]95 to post solo 9-inning shutout (only two others on that listhad double-digit Ks) … the thriller with USFmarked only the seventh time in 15 seasons(and 900 games) that the Irish had played ina 1-0 game … joined Gagne as the only NDpitchers (since [apos]91, and possibly earlier) topost a solo 9-inning shutout in a 1-0 game …hard-luck loser at Pittsburgh (6.2 IP, 4 R, 8 H,2 BB, 3 Ks; 2-4) and Cincinnati (8 IP, 4 R/1 ER,7 H, 2 BB, WP, 7 Ks; 3-4) before rattling offwins over Georgetown (7 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, HB, 8Ks; 10-0), West Virginia (9 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 3 BB, 6Ks; 5-20, at league-leading Rutgers (7 IP, 3 R,7 H, HB, WP, 7 Ks; 15-3) and back homeagainst Seton Hall (9 IP, R, 5 H, 11 Ks; 3-1) …lost much-anticipated showdown with Pittsat Louisville (7.2 IP, 3 R, 8 H, 3 BB, HB, 11 Ks;1-3) and had no-decision versus UConn infinal regular-season series (8 IP, 4 R/3 ER, 12H, 4 BB, 2 HB, 4 Ks; 5-4) … finished strong inBIG EAST Tournament loss to Villanova (9 IP,3 R/2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 9 Ks, 78 of 123 pitches forstrikes; 1-3).

AS A FRESHMAN: Served primarily as areliever while logging three starts among his12 appearances … his 26.2 innings tied forsecond-most among the four rookie pitchers,behind Freshman All-American KyleWeiland[apos]s 49.1 … won both of his decisionswhile posting a 7.09 ERA, better than a 2-to-1strikeout-to-walk ratio (23/10) and a .280opponent batting average (30 hits, none ofthem home runs) … had a solid midseasonstretch with a 1.15 ERA in span of six outings(15.2 IP) but his season also included inconsistencywith his control and focus (5 hit batters,2 wild pitches, 2 balks) … ownedthird-best groundout-to-flyout ratio on thestaff (1.5), also ranking fourth on staff ingroundout rate (11.1 per 9 IP) and fifth with7.8 Ks per 9 IP (18.9 of his outs per 9 IP camevia Ks or GOs) … held righthanded hitters to.237 batting avg. (4th on staff) … allowed 3-of-4 inherited baserunners to score but limitedthe first batters faced in his outings to2-for-8 batting (BB, R, 4 Ks) … his bad luckdebut included three unearned runs chargedto him in 10-inning loss to Memphis, inMillington, Tenn. (2 IP, 4 R, 4 H, HB, 3 Ks; 6-7)… allowed only one run in 2-inning stint thenext week versus potent Nebraska team, atthe Metrodome (H, BB, HB, 2 Ks) … pitcherof record in comeback win over #15 TexasA&M (5-4, in San Antonio), despite allowingtwo-run single by first batter he faced (hethen rolled up a groundout to end the 7thand the Irish pushed across four in the 8th)… had his first start later on spring-breaktrip, in 10-8 loss to Iowa (2.1 IP, 4 R, 4 H, BB,HB, 2 Ks, WP, HB) … recovered from roughstart in his home debut (vs. CentralMichigan; 3.2 IP, 7 R, 7 H, BB, HB, K, 2 BK; 11-9) by allowing only two runs over his next sixoutings and 15.2 innings (8 H, 6 BB, 14 Ks) …tossed two shutout innings in 12-0 win overValparaiso (BB, 3 Ks, WP) and then hadshutout frame in 10-4 win at South Florida (3BB, K) … won his final start in 8-2 game withManchester, (season-high 7 Ks, 7 IP, 4 H, BB,HB) … allowed pair of runs in 11-8 loss toBowling Green that ended team[apos]s record-setting23-game winning streak (3.2 IP, 4 H, BB,K) … added shutout innings to help beatCleveland State (K; 12-1) and Louisville (K;11-3) … made final appearance in 14-12 winat Seton Hall (0.2 IP, 6 R, 5 H, BB, K).

PREP & PERSONAL: Three-year regularat Hazelwood West High School, compiling2.96 career ERA, 14-4 record and 172 Ks in109.2 innings (27 GP/17 GS, 9 CG, 6 SV 46 BB)… his 9-inning career averages included 14.1Ks and 3.8 walks (3.7 K-to-BB ratio) … waslisted by Baseball America as top prospect inMissouri among [apos]05 prep seniors (#76 innation) while Team One slotted him asnation[apos]s #84 prospect (31st among RHPs) …named all-state as senior team MVP (1.56, 6-2, 3 SV, 88 K, 19 BB, 54 IP, 5 CG, 11 GP/8 GS)… set school record with 30-inning scorelessstreak in [apos]05 … team captain, all-conferenceand all-metro performer in [apos]04 and [apos]05… his [apos]04 stats included 2.65 ERA and 59 Ksin 34.1 IP (4-2, 2 SV, 13 BB, 9 GP/5 GS, 3 CG)… all-conference pitcher and outfielder in [apos]03(conference champs) and [apos]04 … logged 3.61ERA and 25 Ks as sophomore in [apos]03 (4-0,save, 14 BB, 21.1 IP, 7 GP/4 GS, CG) … tossed1-hitter in [apos]04 vs. St. Charles and in [apos]04 summerwith Midwest Prospects, totaling 16 Ksversus Colorado-based Play Ball Sports team(at Omaha tournament) … earned all-statehonors with SLABA team in 8th and 10thgrade, also playing in Perfect Game showcasesas junior and senior … invited to AreaCode Games as a junior, in California withChicago White Sox team … his brother MikePhelps was a pitcher at Central Missouri anda 2005 draft pick of the Chicago Cubs … letteredtwice in basketball at HWHS … anhonor-roll student and member of NationalHonor Society … born Oct. 9, 1986, in St.Louis … full name is David Edward Phelps …son of Alan and Sandy Phelps … enrolled inthe College of Arts and Letters, majoring inpolitical science and computer applications.