Hall of Fame
After playing three sports -- baseball, basketball, and football -- at Evansville, his professional baseball career took off after leaving UE in 1988. Andy Benes was the 1988 NCAA Baseball Player of the Year was the 1988 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Player of the Year.
During the 1988 collegiate season, Benes recorded a 16-3 record for the Aces, spotting a 1.42 earned run average in 146 innings of work. He struck out 188 batters that year while leading the NCAA in strikeout ratio (11.6/9 innings). He also won the Pitching Triple Crown leading DI baseball in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
Benes was the No. 1 overall pick by the San Diego Padres in the 1988 Major League Baseball Draft. Andy was a Padre from 1989-1995, earning The Sporting News Rookie Pitcher of the Year honor in his first year with San Diego. He was an All-Star in 1993 and led the National League with 189 strikeouts during the 1994 season. Benes finished third in the Cy Young Award balloting in 1996 after an 18–10, 3.83 ERA season.
Benes’ major league career spanned four organizations from 1989-2002 as he also pitched for the Seattle Mariners (1995), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-99), and he had two stints with the St. Louis Cardinals (1996-97 and 2000-02).
He recorded a 155-139 record in the majors with a career 3.97 ERA and 2,000 strikeouts. Notably, he struck out the final batter of his career in 2002 to reach that plateau.
At Evansville, Benes was an All-American in 1988 by Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and the ABCA, while his No. 30 is one of two retired jerseys in program history. He helped the United States to the gold medal in baseball in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympic Games.