Clemson baseball eliminated in own regional with 3-2 loss to Charlotte in NCAA Tournament

CLEMSON – Clemson baseball's season came to a crashing end in less than a 24-hour span after being eliminated in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, losing to Charlotte 3-2 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Clemson (44-19), the No. 4 national seed and the top seed in its own regional, had a 17-game winning streak snapped late Saturday night in a 14-inning 6-5 loss to Tennessee, which is the regional’s No. 2 seed.

Clemson grabbed an early lead against No. 3 seed Charlotte (36-27) on Caden Grice’s solo home run in the top of the first inning.

The Tigers extended their lead to 2-0 in the second when Riley Bertram and Blake Wright had back-to-back singles and Ty Olenchuk followed with a tough grounder that resulted in a muffed throw by the first baseman, allowing Bertram to score.

Charlotte cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the third on Cam Fisher’s sacrifice fly.

Will Butcher homered in seventh to break up Clemson’s no-hitter and tie the game at 2-2, then Jack Dragum’s RBI single put the 49ers ahead for good, 3-2.

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Pitching pretty solid for Clemson

Despite using nine pitchers in its loss to Tennessee, Clemson’s patchwork pitching staff proved rather effective on Sunday.

Olenchuk, Jackson Lindley and Rob Hughes combined to pitch no-hit ball for 6 1/3 innings before Butcher’s home run ended it. The Tigers proceeded to use relievers Reed Garris, Rocco Reid and Willie Weiss over the final innings, which means Clemson used 15 pitchers over the last two games.

Grice finished with a flourish

Grice, who is projected to be a high-round selection in next month’s Major League Baseball draft, made quite an impression in his final run with the Tigers.

A two-way star, Grice went 5-0 on the mound with a 2.79 earned run average, with 12 walks and 53 strikeouts during Clemson’s 17-game winning streak.

But his future is likely to be as a batter. The home run against Charlotte – his sixth in 10 games was for a team-leading 18^th of the season.

Clemson streaks coming crashing

The two losses marked the first time the Tigers had dropped consecutive games since being swept by ACC rival Wake Forest on March 30 and April 1.

Also coming to a close: Clemson entered Sunday’s game with a 33-3 record this season when leading after six innings.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Charlotte knocks Clemson baseball out of NCAA regional with 3-2 victory