Box Score

Clemson, S.C. - Western Carolina baseball could not find the same elimination bracket magic it mustered the week prior in the annual Southern Conference Baseball Championship. No. 7 national seed Clemson reclaimed its offense swing on Sunday evening as the Tigers handed the Catamounts a 15-3 defeat in a NCAA Clemson Regional elimination game at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Four Tigers posted multi-hit games as Clemson crossed the plate 15 times on 16 base hits while rookie right-hander Alex Eubanks (6-5) tossed his first career complete game to eliminate the Catamounts and advance to the regional final against Oklahoma State. WCU finished with three runs coming on nine hits, each marker scored over the final two frames.

Western Carolina concludes its challenging 2016 schedule with a .500 record, finishing at 31-31. The Catamounts claimed the program's league-record 10th Southern Conference tournament championship giving WCU a conference-best 23 combined regular season and tournament championships. The 2016 Catamounts made the program's 12th NCAA regional appearance, winning at least one game for the eighth-time in those 12 regionals.

"I was proud of our guys yesterday, the way we came back after that first loss. Today, we just ran out of gas," said WCU head coach Bobby Moranda on the field following his squad's season-ending defeat. "We had a great week last week in the SoCon tournament. We pitched the ball great; had great clutch hitting, and played really hard. We just ran out of gas."

Three Catamounts posted multiple hits with sophomore Brett Pope collecting a pair of singles for a third-straight multi-hit game. The Statesville, N.C., product finished with a team-best eight hits and a .615 batting average at the Clemson Regional. Senior Garrett Brown and junior Matt Smith both collected two hits apiece including a double.

Senior Kramer Ferrell tallied his 65th RBI of the season with a run-scoring single, plating classmate Danny Bermudez in their final frame. Ferrell also reached on a walk. Equally as fitting, senior Reece Strong drove home a run in his final plate appearance for the Purple & Gold, driving in Ferrell by beating out an infield single.

Redshirt junior left-hander Dillon Bray (2-5) was saddled with the loss in the starting role, surrendering six runs -- five earned -- on six hits, countering six hits with three strikeouts. The Hamptonville, N.C., product was the first of five Catamount pitchers to toe the rubber with all but one -- senior Colton Davis -- pitching as underclassmen. Juniors Korey Anderson and B.J. Nobles combined for 2.2 innings with sophomore Dylan Biumi striking out one in two innings of relief work.

For Davis, the one inning represented his 90th career appearance, fifth in the WCU career record books.

After WCU jumped out to the 6-0 lead in Friday's first meeting with the regional host, Clemson (44-19) never trailed on Sunday after capitalizing on a second inning walk by Chris Okey. The Tigers tacked on three runs in the third before a five-run fifth allowed Clemson to pull away.

All told, the Tigers homered a combined five times in the winning effort with five different players recording round-trippers to stay alive in regional play.

Weston Wilson led the Tigers with a 4-for-5, four RBI performance while Okey went 2-for-2 with three walks and three RBI, both hitting home runs. ACC Player and Freshman of the Year Seth Beer doubled and homered in a 2-for-3, three-RBI outing with one strikeout against Bray.

Sunday's loss concludes the collegiate careers of seven Western Carolina seniors: outfielder Garrett Brown; catcher Danny Bermudez; RHP Colton Davis; LHP Taylor Durand; outfielder Kramer Ferrell, infielder Reece Strong; and RHP Jonathan Waszak.