The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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est of times. Such is the story of Senay's senior season. Coming out of high school, he turned down a professional offer from the Detroit Tigers, who selected him in the 38th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. Senay opted for college baseball at NC State instead, and a college degree in technology education, which he will earn a year from now. Four years later, the 2009 draft seems like last weekend to Senay. And he's had far too much fun playing college baseball at NC State to even think about regretting his decision, or to notice his college career flying by. After playing in three NCAA regionals and a super regional his first three seasons, he's primed for a huge finish as a senior. "Being a senior on this team has meant the world to me," Senay said. "It's my last year playing college baseball. I don't know how much baseball I'll play after this, so I really want to enjoy every minute of it and make the most of it. "I want us to have a storybook ending and go to Omaha [for the College World Series]." ■ The Wolfpack Has Surged To No. 5 In The Nation Sophomore shortstop Trea Turner was third in the nation with a .430 batting average as of April 28, and he led the Pack in hits (58), home runs (six) and stolen bases (22). photo by ken martin Following a two-game split April 27-28 against top-ranked North Carolina, NC State headed into the college baseball season's stretch drive in excellent position to achieve all of its goals, including a conference championship, hosting a regional and super regional, and advancing to the College World Series. At 34-11 overall and 15-8 in the ACC, the Pack was ranked fifth in the national polls and stood just a half-game behind Florida State for the lead in the ACC's Atlantic Division. NC State got hot at the right time of the year, winning 16 of its last 17 games, and 18 of its last 20, through April 28.That pushed the Pack into the top 10 in the NCAA's Ratings Performance Index, the all-important RPI, which could result in the program's first-ever postseason national seed. "We're proud of the fact that our teams have always played their best baseball at the end of the year, and this team is no different," Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent said. "We're playing really good baseball right now. We're playing with a different level of confidence." The hot stretch came after a sluggish start caused in part by injuries to sophomore second baseman Logan Ratledge, sophomore All-American shortstop Trea Turner and senior center fielder Brett Williams. In addition, sophomore All-American left-hander Carlos Rodon got off to a slow start and was not his usual dominant self for much of the first two months of the season. Through March 30, the Wolfpack was 18-10 overall and 4-7 in the ACC, and then turned things around with a 15-1 month of April. Turner's return from injury and Rodon's return to dominance played a huge part in the turnaround. Third in the nation as of April 28 with a .430 batting average, Turner led the Pack in hits (58), home runs (six), runs scored (49), total bases (90), slugging percentage (.667), walks (25), on-base percentage (.512), sacrifice flies (five) and stolen bases (22), despite missing 10 games with an ankle injury. Rodon, meanwhile, shut down Georgia Tech and North Carolina, two of college baseball's best hitting teams, April 20 and 27, respectively. Those performances lifted Rodon to 5-2 with a 4.30 ERA. He led the nation with 105 strikeouts in 67 innings, an average of 14.1 K's per nine innings. "A big key for us has been guys coming back from injuries," Avent said. "If we can stay healthy and our starting pitching continues to step up like it has the last few series, we expect good things to happen." Turner and Rodon are back and playing like stars again. The starting pitchers began pitching late into games in April to take some heat off a stellar bullpen (22-4, 2.56 ERA, 15 saves). Most important, perhaps, the starting lineup stabilized itself in April, and eight of the nine regulars in the lineup were batting .270 or better as April ended. "The biggest thing I've seen right now is that one through nine we're swinging the bats better," Avent said. "The bottom half of the lineup is much better right now than they've been at anytime this year, and that's the biggest difference in our ballclub." — Bruce Winkworth 58 ■ the wolfpacker 56-58.Baseball.indd 58 4/30/13 2:34 PM