DURHAM, N.C. \u2014 Say what you will about Clemson\u2019s baseball team this year, but one thing you can\u2019t say is they make excuses.
\nThough reporters following Friday\u2019s 6-3 loss to North Carolina tried to excuse the drops by Weston Wilson, Eli White and Steven Duggar due to the baseball getting lost into the bright blue sky at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the Tigers had none of it.
\n\u201cThe sun obviously was tough, but it\u2019s part of the game. Both teams had to deal with it,\u201d Clemson shortstop Tyler Krieger said. \u201cAnd we just did not find a way to deal with that.\u201d
\nClemson (32-27) finished the game with four errors, which led to four unearned runs by the Tar Heels. White drew first baseman Andrew Cox off the bag on a routine ground ball to short with two outs in the third inning, then Duggar dropped a fly ball, which was going foul down the right side, a couple of batters later which UNC\u2019s Skye Bolt made them both pay for with a three-run bomb to right field.
\nWhile Clemson was trying to claw itself back into the game thanks to a two-run sixth inning, White gave a run back when he lost a pop up to short from Bolt in the sun and dropped it, allowing UNC\u2019s Tyler Ramirez to score.
\nAll six of the Tar Heels\u2019 (34-24) runs came with two outs.
\n\u201cAll three facets of the game could have been tighter,\u201d Krieger said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t play good enough defense as we could. And we didn\u2019t push the ball as well as we could have. But we\u2019ve got to learn from it and hopefully have the opportunity to build on it, and keep moving forward.\u201d
\nThe Tigers, who won eight of their last 11 games, now have to wait and see if their name comes up on the television this coming Monday when the Field of 64 is announced.
\n\u201cYou assume an opportunity. I don\u2019t think you sit there and think that you\u2019re never going to get an opportunity,\u201d Krieger said. \u201cI always think optimistically. Good things are going to happen to good people.
\n\u201cI believe we have a lot of good people in this program. We will be waiting until Monday, but until then we will find ways to keep getting better, so we have an opportunity to keep playing.\u201d
\nAnd the Tigers hope, if they get that opportunity, they play better than they did on Friday.
\n\u201cIn the game of baseball you\u2019re never out of the game,\u201d Krieger said. \u201cSo you just have to keep looking for opportu\u00adnities, keep plugging away. And hopefully take some shots when you get them.
\n\u201cObviously we didn\u2019t convert today as well as we could have, and that\u2019s kind of the name of the game. Yesterday we did and today we didn\u2019t. That\u2019s just part of the game. We have to learn from it and move on and hopefully get some more opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n