Hall of Fame
Ryan Bennett was born to be a catcher. Literally it was in his blood.
When Bennett matriculated from Waukegan, Ill., to Austin Peay in 1993 his older brother Gary already was a catcher in the Philadelphia Phillies organization on his way to a 13-season major league career.
But when Bennett first came to Austin Peay, a catcher already was in place, Brian Law, and Bennett was forced to play other positions, mostly outfield. His play suffered. In fact, he batted below .100 during the early part of his freshman season. But his defensive abilities, along with his ability to call games, began to become evident. By season's end he was sharing those catching duties with Law.
And that pair continued to split duties in 1994. A guy whose focus always was on his responsibilities as a pitch-caller, handler of pitchers, blocking ball in the dirt, Bennett finally saw his offensive abilities starting to take shape. He batted a respectable .254 as a sophomore, with eight extra-base hits and 17 RBI. In fact, he still played some outfield that season to get his bat in the lineup.
But his Austin Peay career really took off in 1995. With Law gone, the catching responsibilities totally rested with Bennett. In fact, he earned team most valuable player honors and honorable mention All-OVC when he batted a team-best .356-31 points higher than anyone else-while leading the team in RBI (43). He paced the team with 25 extra-base hits, including 17 doubles. He also had just four errors from the catcher's position and was especially known as someone who was not shy about attempting to pick off runners at both first and second. Still the Governors struggled to only a 24-32 record that season.
As good as Bennett was in 1995, he was even better in 1996 as the Governors rolled up a school-record 44 victories. However, his own accomplishments nearly were overshadowed by teammates Chuck Abbott (42-game hitting streak) and Nate Manning (OVC Player of the Year).
As a senior, Bennett played in 64 games. He was the starting catcher in all but three games that included 12 doubleheaders that season. His undeniable durability and toughness made him the leader of what was arguably the best team during Gary McClure's APSU tenure.
The trust Bennett earned from the coaching staff allowed him to call pitches, something almost unheard of in the college game more than a decade later. He coaxed strong performances from a pitching staff by being unafraid to call for two-strike breaking balls or split-finger pitches with a runner on third base. Bennett was exceptional at blocking balls in the dirt and it was nothing for him to scoop up a low pitch and throw behind runners on the base paths. Literally everything defensively ran through him.
As good as his defense was, his offense was just as exceptional. In 64 contests he went without a hit just 11 times the entire season. He led the team in multi-hit games with 32, including 14 three-hit efforts.
Incredibly this catcher not only led the Governors in hitting, but the OVC as well with a .407 batting average. That .407 batting average ranks sixth best all-time in APSU history. His 99 single-season hits rank second only to Manning's 100 that season.
What is remarkable about Bennett's average that season was the consistency in which he produced. His lowest average during the season was .347 at the 12-game mark of the season. Then he proceeded to go 18 for his next 28 (.643) at the plate over the next seven games. In the season's final 20 games his average dipped below .400 just once. He opened the season with an eight-game hitting streak and then had three other nine-game streaks during the season.
Known for using the entire park while at the plate, he smacked an APSU-record 29 doubles that season to go with five home runs.
And while Manning was setting the OVC record for RBI (81) that season, who was second in the league for RBI? It was Bennett, who batted behind Manning, with 58.
He was the runaway winner as first-team All-OVC catcher. He helped Austin Peay capture the 1996 OVC tourney championship. He then had five hits and four RBI in the NCAA Play-In Series with Southern to help lift the Governors to the program's first NCAA tournament appearance at LSU, where he had hits in both tourney games.
He followed his brother into pro baseball, playing six minor league seasons for the New York Mets.
