Pennridge pitcher Ryder Olson following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps

Pitching is a family business for the Olsons.

Dan Olson, 71, started the tradition, with his baseball career taking him to Southern Cal and later a stint on the independent Portland Mavericks of the Northwest League. Dan’s son Jordan, 43, also became a Trojan, and spent two seasons in the minors after being drafted in the 33rd round by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Now, 17-year-old Ryder Olson is taking up the mantle from his father and grandfather. Ryder just wrapped up his sophomore season with Pennridge in Bucks County, where he finished with an 1.67 ERA and helped the Rams to their first playoff appearance since 2016.

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With Ryder ranked as the ninth-best pitcher in his class for Pennsylvania, the elder Olsons think he might have the most potential of them all.

“He’s more advanced in high school than I was,” Dan said. “And as a sophomore, he’s a better pitcher than his dad was as a sophomore. Ryder loves playing baseball, and he works very hard.”

Dan grew up in Los Angeles, playing in front of crowds as large as 3,000 at his Little League games. Once he got to USC, he played basketball during his freshman year, occasionally facing Bill Walton of UCLA.

He returned to baseball during his second year, joining the Trojans’ pitching staff. Under longtime coach Rod Dedeaux, USC was one of the premier teams in the nation, and Dan was a member of College World Series championship teams in 1972 and 1973.

“You kind of control the game,” Dan said. “The game can’t start until you throw a pitch, and I always liked that.”

He made the Mavericks squad after graduating, before an elbow injury ended his baseball career. But Jordan would inherit his love of the sport, as the pair regularly attended Dodgers games together. Dan started giving Jordan pitching lessons when he became old enough for Little League and noticed early on Jordan’s excellent control.

“He just would slowly introduce little things that for a 7-, 8-, 9-year old, it’s not a big deal, but it was planting the seed of baseball IQ,” Jordan said.

As a junior in high school, Jordan won the CIF-Southern Section baseball championship, held in the stadium where he grew up watching games with his father. He was drafted by Cleveland out of high school, but opted to play in college to get an education first. After spending a season in junior college, he transferred to USC.

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“Everything in my baseball career, I owe to him,” Jordan said. “Putting in all the extra work, seeing physical therapists, you name it. I either went to it, tried it, or did it. So it’s all for him. He tried to make me the best that I could be.”

After a back injury ended his own baseball career, Jordan eventually settled with his family in Bucks County, where his wife, Courtney, is from. Now Ryder is next up.

He played a key role in Pennridge going from a two-win season last year to making its first postseason appearance in eight years.

“It was awesome. New coach, couple new players,” Ryder said. “If you put us on different teams, I think we’re not as good, but we just all played as a team. And it was a really nice season.”

Ryder is a two-way player, but Jordan thinks he will eventually specialize in one or the other to make the jump to the next level. Ryder is a righty like Dan is, while Jordan was a left-handed pitcher.

His arsenal of a fastball, curveball, and changeup were all learned from his father, who once upon a time learned those pitches from his own dad.

“We were all very intense on the mound,” Dan said. “He had a game this year where he’s playing third base, and the coach looked at him and said, ‘Hey, I need a reliever. Can you pitch?’ And he came in and retired seven guys in a row for the win without ever having warmed up. So the intensity when he gets on the mound is always there for him, which is fun to watch.”

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It’s certainly an advantage to have a former high-level baseball player right down the hall and another a phone call away. While Jordan stopped coaching his son when he turned 13, he still videotapes most of Ryder’s outings, and they’ll spend time going over the film together afterward and talking through it.

Since both Dan’s and Jordan’s careers were ultimately derailed by injury, Ryder said health and arm care are a major focus of his.

Lots of things have changed in the baseball world since Dan and Jordan played, with advanced analytics leading to changes in many training methods. So it also benefits Ryder to train elsewhere, under external coaches without family relations. During winter workouts last year, he added five miles per hour to his fastball.

“My goal is to gain some weight, throw a little bit harder, be able to command the off-speed more,” Ryder said “And just give my team a chance to win each game.”

Jordan hopes Ryder will get the same collegiate experience he once did. He has generated interest from colleges already, though NCAA rules prevent official discussions from taking place until this fall.

Of course, there’s a legacy of Trojan fandom in the family. But no matter where his path ends, it’s a journey he’s already sharing with the generations before him.

“When the three of us are together, we’re pretty much talking baseball, whether it’s pros or what’s going on with whatever team they’re playing on, that sort of thing,” Dan said. “It has bonded us pretty, pretty close together.”

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Ryder has five siblings, including two younger brothers who also share the family interest: Oliver, 14, and Heath, 11.

Dan lives in Georgia now but often makes the trip to Pennsylvania to see his many grandkids who live in the area, and watches a lot of baseball games. For the ones he can’t attend in person, Dan follows along on a virtual scoring app or on a livestream. Ryder calls him after most of his starts to chat about how it went.

“He loves to work, and he wants to be the best he can possibly be. And I love that,” Dan said. “I love the fact that that’s the way he is, and so I want him to continue to be that way and just be the best he can possibly be, and then just see where that takes him.

“I don’t have aspirations of him pitching for the Dodgers, although that wouldn’t bother me at all. But I just want him to be the best Ryder he can be. And so far, he’s doing that.”