The N.C. State baseball team is currently on an 11-game winning streak. Senior first baseman Tarran Senay has been the clutch performer for the Wolfpack as the season winds down.
“We are on a good run right now,” Senay said. “We are playing a lot better than we did in the beginning of the season, and we just have to keep getting better.”
Senay, who has played in all but one game this season, leads the team in runs batted in with 36 and is tied with sophomore outfielder Jake Fincher for the team lead in hits with 47. He is tied for seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference and 45th in the country in RBIs, while ranking 14th in the ACC in hits.
“There have been a lot of people that have made clutch plays,” Senay said. “I do not get those RBIs if nobody is on base.”
He also leads the team in multi-RBI games with 11. The closest teammates, sophomore shortstop Trea Turner and sophomore catcher Brett Austin, have had six.
The South Park, Penn. native has also had his share of home runs. He currently has four long balls on the season, second on the team behind Turner’s five.
Senay’s success directly correlates with State’s success as of late, earning a .429 batting average and a .514 slugging percentage in the last 10 games. His hot streak has been especially exemplified against conference opponents. He went a combined 10-for-24 with three runs, a double, five runs batted in and a walk in the six games against ACC foes Virginia Tech and Boston College. In the final game against Boston College, however, he saw his 12-game hitting streak come to an end.
In the non-conference victories during the stretch, he went 5-for-11 with three runs, a double and three RBIs, including the two-run single at home against East Carolina that provided the only scoring of the game.
The Pack is making a run to win the ACC Championship this season. Senay needs to help lead his team in the coming weeks, especially during the next conference series at home against the rival North Carolina Tar Heels, ranked third in NCAA Baseball RPI and first in all other polls.
“We need to play the best three games we can against UNC,” Senay said. “They always give us the biggest challenge. Whoever plays harder and better usually comes out on top, but no one knows what will happen in the series. Every game is a fight and a battle.”
As the season comes to an end, Senay’s time in a Wolfpack uniform does as well. His time with State will be unforgettable for him and for the students and fans that followed the team during his collegiate career.
“The entire experience has been awesome,” Senay said. “The best decision of my life was coming here and playing here for the past four years. Hopefully, we can make this year special as we continue on through this season. It has been wonderful here, and it has been a ride.”
The fate of the Pack’s 2013 campaign is unclear with a month to go until the ACC tournament kicks off. State will have to earn its postseason accolades on the diamond, but with Senay in the heart of the team’s offensive, it will be hard for the opposition to stop the Cardiac Pack.
